The Shinigami's Sister
by MRegent.2 and Pangie
Summary: Ryuk's little sister has been alone for seven long years since he died. Now will she get a chance to see her brother again, and who is this Light Yagami and his connection to Kira?
1. Akira

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Akira**

It's been 7 years since I last saw you big brother. You left me all alone to fend for myself. I'm standing at your grave, placing a nice juicy red apple on your head stone. Your favorite, remember? I hope you're enjoying apples wherever you are.

It was a dark day as the cold dark clouds hid the warm bright sun behind them.

An empty graveyard filled with cold gray head stones.

The sound of thunder was heard, as a dark shadow approached one of the head stones, small bright crimson orb beside it.

It was a young girl, around the age of nine, dressed in baggy black cargo pants with the legs tucked into ankle high black combat boots. She wore a black long sleeved button up shirt with the sleeves rolled back to her elbows, showing the pale skin that seemed to give off an ominous yet beautiful glow.

Her face was the same shade, with the same glow. Soft pink lips were set in a frown as her beautiful golden almond shaped eyes glazed over with tears that were ready to fall. Her layered, waist length dark blue hair framed her face, and flowed like water down her back.

In her right hand, she held a large crimson apple loosely.

She looked at the head stone as a tear streaked down her right cheek.

There was a loud clasp of thunder and it began to rain, drenching her clothes and hair, making them cling to her small body, making it look fragile.

She raised her hand, placing the crimson fruit carefully on the head stone, and let her fingers feel the engravings on the head stone.

"Big brother." The little girl's voice said.

Behind the sound of the thunder and rain the sound of her voice tinkled quietly, sounding clear and light as bells chiming alone in the storm.

"I brought you another apple. I hope you'll enjoy it."

The rain rolled down her cheeks, mixing with her tears.

"I miss you… so much."

She looked at the head stone sadly reading the inscription to her self before speaking aloud loud again.

"It's been years and I still wish you were alive."

The wind blew her rain-soaked hair around. Revealed by the lashings of wind was that which had been hidden by her hair. A small sliver heart dangling on a thin sliver chain.

"Akira!"

A deep voice called the little girl, hearing the hurried foot steps and splashing coming. She looked to her left at a twenty-eight year old man came towards her.

He had short, light brown hair that had only a few hairs of gray. His eyes were a light gray with a few wrinkles on his handsome face. He looked down warmly to the little girl, taller than her four-foot-eight at his six-foot-one.

His clothes lost their color in the rain, though they hadn't had much of that in the first place. He wore a dark brown overcoat that stopped behind his knees over a black suit with a grayish blue tie. He crouched a little to talk to her as she blinked up at him, a lost puppy in the rain.

"It's time to go home, sweetie. We don't want you getting sick. Mommy's making a nice hot meal for us back home."

She nodded, following the man as they hurried to get out of the rain.

They got into the car, soaking wet, she in the back seat. They buckled their seat belts before starting the car and driving off to their home.

The graveyard was left empty as they left, closing for the night shortly after.

With no one around to witness the strange happening the apple that had been placed on the head stone floated into the air.

Hovering just a few feet above the ground, then, a rather large chunk of the apple disappeared, as if something was eating it. This happened again and again, more pieces of the red fruit seeming to disappear.

It was gone in seconds.

**Authors Note: Thanks to Yami Yugi Alexander the 4th for letting me adopt this story, lets see if I can do it justice.**


	2. Ryuk's Bargain

The Shingami's Sister:

Light shifted uncomfortably outside the To-Oh university, _I am L_. It was amazing that only three words could be so terrifying. That and humiliating, his greatest enemy was an hunch-backed insomniac! How did that fit into his image as the God of the New world? He shook his head_, no there is still a chance that this Hideki Ryuuga is anohter proxy snet in L's place, but it is a strange choice if so, wouldn't it be more prudent to send someone who looked more suited to job? Or maybe-_his thoughts went on for some time, Ryuk hyuking behind him.

Light was so entertaining, especially when he was weaving one of his many plots, mind you he could get more apples. After all a Shinigami's gotta have food right? Well maybe not but he really liked apples....

Light was jerked out of his thoughts as he felt Ryuk stiffen behind him, "what is it now" asked Light, _I hope its not more apples, I'm going into debt over that stupid addiction!_

Ryuk just pointed past Lights shoulder at a teenage girl a few meters in front of them. She looked to be around her early to mid teens and had dark hair that Light could have sworn was blue in the afternoon sun, her eyes were covered by a pair of cheap sunglasses.

"I'm looking but i don't see anything special" Light said in annoyance, keeping his voice low.

"... let her touch the Death Note" said Ryuk urgently.

Light's eyes widened for a few seconds. "Absolutely not!" He snapped shocking the people around. "Lines for a play" he reassured them before hissing to Ryuk, "we're going home!"

"Hey what're you so mad about?" Light ignored him for the rest of the way home.

*****

Akira sat down on the wooden bench, looking both ways before she withdrew a packet of cigarettes from her coat pocket. A few seconds later she drew several quick breaths through one, feeling the nicotine receptors in her brain finally calming down. _Damn, I never should have let Matt get me hooked on these things._

"AKIRA!" She turned her father glaring at her disapprovingly. _How the hell does he manage to sneak up on me like that?_"How many times have I told you smoking is bad for your health!" He marched forward and ripped the cigarette from her mouth and the packet from her hand.

"But Daad! Akira whined, "Nicotine stickers just don't work!"

Her father glared at her for a moment before throwing down the cigarettes and crushing them beneath his shoe heel. "If you keep doing this you'll die before you're thirty young lady! Now hand over the other packets, I know you have more!"

But-"

"Now young lady!"

"Fine" she grumbled and tossed the remaining tweo packets to him.

Her father raised an eyebrow. "And the lighter".

She gritted her teeth as she handed over the red plastic lighter. A the two packet quickly joined the first in being stomped into the pavement while the lighter was pocketed by her father. "I expect you to stay away from these disgusting things from now on" he said disapprovingly.

"Yes Dad" Akira replied sullenly.

Her father's expression softened. "I only do these things because I care Akira, you'll thank me one day". He walked off. Akira sighed in annoyance. _A year ago I was first in line succed L and now I'm being told off like a child..._

*****

"Hey Light, why are you still ignoring me?"

Light remained silent.

"Whohoo!" Ryuk waved a hand in front of Light's face. "If you don't talk to me I'll bored and then...."

Light took his switched-off mobile out of his coat pocket and began speaking. "I'm ignoring you because we're in public. You know about this so stop talking to me unless you want to get sent to an asylum".

Ryuk hyuked, "that would be pretty interesting, but anyway how come you got so mad about me asking you to let that girl touch the Death Note?"

Light replied in a sardonic tone. "Because if I did she would either faint when she saw you, or scream. Fainting would be bad enough, but her pointing and screaming about a monster while pointing to me -well, that's what everyone else would think, not being able to see you- may be a little out of the ordinary, and I can't afford that kind of attention, especially with Ryuzaki in my class. Now stop talking to me!" He ended on a hiss just before hanging up, seeing a familiarly stopped shadow approaching him.

"Why, Light-kun, that is a little rude." The detective said, biting his thumb.

"I was talking to someone who was annoying me." Light replied, gritting his teeth.

"Is that so? You must have quite a temper, then. Let's hope I don't annoy you. I'm not, am I?"

"Not at all." replied Light falsely, lancing at Ryuk as he began to drift away. L caught the glance.

"What?" L said, looking at the empty space.

"I'll be back," Ryuk said, swiftly flying off.

"Nothing. I thought I saw something. I was mistaken."

"I'm sure," replied L. "Now Light-kun, I would like to speak with you..."

*****

Ryuk hung around an apple stand outside his favourite fruit-store. He had a problem. For the first time since he had died and become a Shinigami Ryuk had seen his little sister, not that was a problem. The problem was that Light refused to let her touch the Death Note, and if she didn't touch the Death Note, or at least part of it she would never be able to see him.

He reached down to pluck another apple from the stand, ignoring the dog barking at the 'flying' apple. Light wouldn't let anyone near the Death Note unless he had no other choice, well Ryuk could threaten to kill him if he refused again.

"Yeah that could work!" He grinned, lifted his wings over his head and flew off the balcony, leaving behind a very puzzled dog and a very upset store-keeper.

*****

Light sat in his room, twirling a pencil between his fingers. _Ryuk wanted that girl to be able to see him, therefore she must hold some kind of importance to him. If she has importance to him he will be concerned with her safety, that means that if I can find out her real name I can threaten to kill her and gain Ryuk's co-operation!_ Light grinned as he spotted Ryuk's head pocking through the wall, _speak of the devil._

"Hey Light, I just needed to talk to y-"

"You want to talk about that girl, right?" Light folded hsi arms in a no-nonsense manner.

"Er, yeah" Ryuk scratched the back of his head with an abormally long arm. "Like I said-"

"You want her to be able to see you" interrupted Light.

"... yeah".

Light leaned back. "Well, I've decided to consider your request..."

Ryuk's eyes narrowed slightly. "Really, how come?"

Light smiled. "Because I see an advantage for me. Since you want this girl to see you she must be important to you. Therefore you wouldn't want her to _dissapear _now would you? I found her name on the Internet" he indicated the computer beside him. "Akira Shirosaki, quite an ironic first name don;t you agree?"

Ryuk gaped. "Are you threatening me? Hyuk! Hyuk! What makes you think I just won't kill you and give her the Death Note?"

Light replied in a condescending tone. "Because if you did that you would be required to return to the Shinigami realm, it says so in the rules. A Shinigami can only remain in the human realm while a human posses its Death Note. Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?"

Ryuk's eternal smile shrank a bit. When did he get the bright idea to write _those _rules into the Death Note. "... fine, anyway what do you want?"

Light almost cried in joy, from here on out Ryuk would have to do as he said. "Well I obviously want your unquestioning obedience, and I also want the Shinigami eyes for free as well-"

"No can do for the last one, the eye deal only works if you pay for it" Ryuk grinned at his little victory.

Light frowned slightly. "Well you still have to do what I say. I'll still let you touch her with the Death Note, but from now on you have to stay near me, and if I see you go for your own Death Note..."

"Yeah, yeah, sayonara Akira".

Light stood up. "Good, well she should be at To-Oh tomorrow, well contact her there".


	3. Akira and a Shingami

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of its associated characters or fictional locations.

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**A Kira and a Shinigami**

_I hate being bored. I hate it. I loath it!_Akira was currently in Mythology, the subject her father lectured in. It wasn't that she didn't like Mythology. In fact, she loved it. So much that she had learned all about it before she turned twelve. And that meant her father was teaching her, and the rest of the class, about things she already knew. _That _was what was boring Akira. That was what was making her so desperate for something to do that she was entertaining herself by seeing how many different ways she could think 'I hate being bored.'

_I really hate being bored... I detest being bored...I loathe being- no, wait, I already thought of that one..._She kept thinking, idly doodling on her open book. She had already copied down everything she knew about the subject they were on- Shinigamis. She already knew all about them. She looked down to see what she was drawing and smiled ruefully when she saw.

Akira had drawn an apple. Typical.

She scratched it out, feeling a familiar pang in her chest. She didn't want to cry there and then. That would be embarrassing. She could break down later.

Akira glanced around, making sure no-one had noticed anything. But no-one had. Even if they had seen her page, Akira doubted they'd recognise the object as an apple. She was good at a lot of things (with anyone else the comment would have seemed like boasting but, with Akira, it was only the truth) but drawing was definitely _not _one of them.

There was a lunch break next. She scampered to the bathroom, had a small, quiet break down and cleaned herself up. Before facing the rest of the students she put on a Nicotine patch. Her nails and teeth weren't yellow, and she didn't want them to be. That meant she had to give up smoking. The night before she had finally made the decision to quit. Her father had been trying to make her quit for a while, but it was only last night that she decided to actually give it an honest go. Maybe it had something to do with the intense memories of her brother that were surfacing...That always led to the memories of how he died...The seventeen year old Ryuk getting stabbed by a gang member, his eyes wide in death as if he couldn't believe he'd been stabbed, her clutching at his dead body, terrified of what would happen then...

She shuddered, shaking her head to free herself from the memories and slapped on another Nicotine patch just to be sure.

Akira stepped out of the bathroom and made her way to the nearby basketball courts. There she found the people she hung around with (they weren't in any way close. They only hung out because it was convenient. This was why Akira couldn't bring herself to call them her friends), apologised for being late and got into the game. Akira loved the way all her muscles seemed to work together to deliver her the results she wanted. She tried to keep herself in top physical health (another reason for her to quit), always strong, fast and coordinated. She stayed away from junk food and the only drug she took was the Nicotine...Well, starting from today, anyway. Was Nicotine even a drug? She didn't know.

The bell for the next class rung and Akira began making her way to hers. She didn't notice someone drawing level with her.

"Excuse me? Are you Akira Shirosaki?" said a voice from her shoulder. She turned around nonchalantly, then did a double-take. Light Yagami? The charming, handsome, smart boy who everyone liked? Why was he talking to her? It wasn't a reverential thought. She'd always thought him a little...Not strange...Not odd either, but she was getting close..._Off_. Yes, that was it. There was something _off _about him. Like when you picked up a delicious-looking apple and bit into it but there was a dead, dark, rotten core inside. She got that feeling that under his likeable exterior there was something rotten about Light Yagami.

She realised he was waiting for a reply, and she'd spent the last second examining him. "Yeah..." She said slowly, not wanting to give him the impression that she was like the other girls, most of which (translation: _all _of which) would probably (translation: definitely) begin giggling and flirting at this point.

Light was a little uncomfortable. The girl -Akira Shirosaki- had been scrutinising him a little too closely. Ryuk gave a hyuk, but it wasn't like his normal ones. It almost sounded...Nervous. "I think you dropped this," he told her, handing her a note book. It wasn't the Death Note, of course, just an ordinary note book. It was actually one of Akira's which he'd 'accidentally' taken ,along with his own things, when they'd had a class together earlier that day. It had a note from Ryuk written on a piece of paper lodged inside. It was written on normal paper. Light hadn't seen what Ryuk wrote, but had been assured it was nothing more than a note saying where and when to meet him.

"Oh. Thank you," said Akira politely, scanning the note book. It was hers. How did she drop it?

"No problem," he said before walking away.

*****

It wasn't until that night that Akira remembered the happening and retrieved the note book from her bag. She flicked through it, seeing if there was anything different. A piece of paper fell out. She picked it up and read it.

_Akira,_

_This is not Light writing this. He hasn't seen this note, if I can help it. This doesn't concern him in any way. I don't want to tell you who I am because that would push you away from me again. But, know this, I know you. I know about the orphanage you were sent to, the IQ test you did that attracted the attention of Whammy's house, the time you spent there before being adopted. I've been keeping tabs on you, but not for the reason you think._

_I'm not a stalker._

Akira was confused. She did not doubt that it was no stalker. No-one would be able to follow her for all these years...Surely not.

_Well, not exactly. The thing is... I don't know how to say this. I have answers for questions I don't think you've even asked. If you want to know exactly what I'm talking about, meet me at eight tonight under the first street light after the café next to To-Oh. It is very important that you come._

_From, Not A Stalker._

_P.S. Have you ever wondered if there's life beyond death?_

The sign-off line, Not A Stalker, made Akira smile. It sounded familiar. And the very last line...She had to go. There was no question about it.

She figured that, if it turned out to be some kind of uber stalker, she could kick their arse anyway.

*****

Akira stood under the street light, her hair glowing blue under the light instead of it's usual black-hinting-at-blue.

Ryuk stood behind her. But she didn't know that. Light hadn't come, and they were alone.

Between his claws he twisted the piece of Death Note paper nervously. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been nervous. He held out the piece of Death Note paper out to Akira, hesitated, then very softly touched her shoulder with it.

"Don'tturnaround," he said very quickly.

Akira's shoulders stiffened. "You left the note?"

"I did. Akira...I'm going to ask you to turn around. I want you to know that I'm very...Just don't scream, okay?" he stumbled, positive he was handling it all wrong.

"I don't scream," Akira snapped. Ryuk relaxed a little. That was the Akira he knew.

"I know," he replied, taking a deep breath for courage. "Okay, turn around. And don't scream!"

Akira also took a breath, suddenly nervous for some inexplicable reason. Very slowly, she turned around.

Ryuk watched as Akira caught slight of him. As she had promised, her lips stayed firmly shut, not even emitting a squeak of surprise. Her oh-so familiar golden eyes widened until they were perfectly round. She grew very pale and very, very still. He held his arms out, his wings stretching slightly, like he was presenting himself to her.

Offering himself as he was.

"Well, little sister," he said, noticing that his mouth felt dry, despite that dry was it's constant state of being. His palms felt slightly sweaty. And he was pretty sure Shinigami didn't sweat. "It's me. Ryuk. I'm back."

**Author's Note:**

**M'kay, so MRegent.2 has kind of handed the story to me, seeing how he doesn't think he's done a very good job of it so far. How do you think I'm doing? Review, please.**

**-XOX, Pangie**


	4. The Eyes

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note.

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Chapter Four**

**The Eyes**

"Well, little sister," the _thing _said, his voice sounding familiar despite being that of a...She didn't even know _what _it is. "It's me. Ryuk. I'm back." Akira couldn't say anything. She couldn't say anything at all.

"Akira?" asked Ryuk, worried that Akira was in shock or something. All his nervousness was turning to dread. She didn't recognise him. She didn't think he was Ryuk. Or maybe she didn't love him now that he was a monster. Or maybe... "It's me. It's Ryuk." Ryuk was begging, now. Begging Akira to recognise him. Begging her to know it was him, that he was there for her, that he would _always _be there for her. He was begging her to say it was okay that he was...different now. "Please, Akira, it's me. It's your big brother. I know I look different, but that's because I'm a Shinigami, now. But I'm still your brother. I'm still me. I'm just...Me. Akira? Akira, please say something. Akira, please."

She was still looking at him with that expression of complete shock on her face.

She didn't love him any more. It was obvious.

"Never mind. I can see that you don't...Never mind," Ryuk told her, what was left of his heart sinking into what was left of his chest. He had thought that he had left disappointment behind with life, but he felt it strongly now as he turned around and began flying away from Akira, who was clearly not interested now that he was totally different to what she remembered him as. Ryuk couldn't really blame her. Akira remembered Ryuk as a human, not as a... As a monster.

Akira was frozen as the thing who said it was Ryuk began flying off. She recognised that air of dejectment. And she recognised that, if she let him go now, he would never come back. Still unable to speak, Akira ran after the thing -no, not the thing. She ran after Ryuk, her brother. At the sound of her footsteps Ryuk looked back. He just had enough time to turn around before Akira threw herself at him, arms tightly around him.

"Don't you dare go!" she ordered, the words muffled slightly, as Ryuk tried to find his balance. He had forgotten how strong Akira was. "Don't you dare leave me, Ryuk. Not again." Ryuk put his arms aound his little sister, feeling grateful that she recognised him and still loved him, relieved that he wasn't to slink back empty-handed to Light, happy to be re-united with Akira and, most of all, at peace.

Finally.

*****

"...So what exactly does this Light want to do with the notebook which kills people?" Akira asked her brother. They had gone for a walk together, talking about everything that had happened in their lives. Or, in Ryuk's case, his death. Akira was glad that her parents would be out until the early hours of the morning, due to some sort of party for work. It meant she could stay out as long as she wanted with Ryuk. They had made their way to a small park and now she lay on the grass, Ryuk next to her, as they watched the sky and spoke.

"He wants to create a new world, I think. I know it's sure to be entertaining," Ryuk told her enthusiastically.

"Yeah. And L is trying to stop him, but he doesn't know for sure that Light is Kira?" asked his sister. Akira knew about the Kira phenomenon -everyone did. But she, unlike everyone else, didn't find it interesting. She put it in the same categories as UFO sightings. Interesting for about a second, then boring again. She thought Kira's selection of people to kill -criminals- was a good one, though. Better than killing off all the doctors.

"Pretty much. They keep trying to out-smart each other."

"And, since L can't see you, you get to stay on the sidelines and watch it all?" asked Akira with a note of envy as she blew a strand of blue hair out of her face. "You are so lucky. It sounds much more fun than _my _life."

"Why? What's your life like?" Ryuk inquired.

"School, a few classes at the To-Oh university -they let me in because I aced the tests they set me, even though I'm younger than everyone else there- home, back to school again. It's not like I regret being adopted by Mum and Dad. Wammy's house was never really for me. Everyone knows you're being trained to be the next L, and that's not the life I want. I prefer being on the sidelines. No, it's just...Well, everything so...same-same now."

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Ryuk.

"It wasn't so bad at first. New classes, I even got to go to university. But it's like a new toy. You get over it. Most of the stuff they tried to teach me I already had learnt back at Wammy's. It was boring," finished Akira with a shrug.

"It sounds like you need a little entertainment," Ryuk suggested absent-mindedly, wondering why Akira had begun fidgeting, as if she was anxious.

"Yeah!" agreed Akira excitedly. "I could help Light!" Ryuk looked at her shining face, lit up with excitement.

"You really want to help him?" he asked doubtfully, feeling a pang of jealousy for the human boy.

"I want to watch what he comes up with. I don't really care about the whole 'rid the world of criminals' part. I mean, it's good, I suppose, to get rid of everyone who makes the world a worse place, but I'm more interested with all the plans. I wouldn't mind helping him as an excuse to see some of those plans fall into place.

"And I'm definately not going to be separated from you again," she said this last part with an undercurrent of steel that made it clear what exactly would happen to anyone who tried to separate them. Her fidgeting grew more frantic and she was gently ripping up tufts of grass. Ryuk put one on his hands over hers, stopping the movement.

"Relax, we're not going to be separated again," he reassured her.

"I know," she told him brightly.

"Then why are you so jumpy?"

"Oh! That's the withdrawal." Seeing his confusion, she added, "I smoke."

"You do?" asked Ryuk in complete surprise. How had he missed this?

"Yeah. And these damn nicotine patches don't work," she said frustratedly, peeling up her sleeve to reveal a good ten patches.

"Well, smoking's bad for you, anyway," Ryuk said vaguely. "You want to live for a long time don't you?"

Akira looked up at him in complete surprise, her pretty golden eyes reminding him of his when he was human. "No!"

"No?" he repeated in confusion. "You don't want to live a long life?"

"Um, _no_," she reprimanded, as if he was a little dim-witted. "I want to become a Shinigami as soon as possible. _Duh_."

"You do?" Ryuk asked for the second time in the conversation. "Why?"

Akira gave him an 'isn't it obvious' look. "Because you're one. Seriously, Ryuk, did you, like, hit your head or something? Is that why you're kind of slow? I mean, I remember you were as smart as me before..."

"Wait, can we backtrack a little," frowned Ryuk. "You _want _to become a Shinigami?"

"_Duh_! I want to be like you! That way no-one will separate us," triumphantly announced Akira.

"Us both Shinigamis..." Ryuk mulled this over. When he looked at Akira she was looking a little anxious, and this time he could tell it was more than nicotine withdrawal.

"That's okay, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah!" rejoiced Ryuk as he got used to the idea. "Us united against boredom, looking for entertainment! And apples of course! I can imagine it now!"

"Sounds like paradise! But how do I become a Shinigami?" she frowned.

"I'm not allowed to say," Ryuk told her regretfully.

"Oh. Well, that's a shame. But you said something on the way here. You said you can see people's names and life spans."

"Yes, but I can't tell you your life span-"

"I don't want to know that," assured his sister. "You said that there was only one way a human could get the eyes of a Shinigami?"

"Yes, if they make the deal. Half the human's life span for the eyes..." he trailed off at the oppurtunistic glint in Akira's eyes.

"I want to make the deal," she said simply. "Is there anything I have to do? Do I have to sign something? Or, I don't know, give my fingerprint in blood?"

Despite being about to say something, Ryuk was distracted by this. "You fingerprint in blood? Where did you get _that _idea?"

"I read a lot in class."

"You mean , reading books about bloody fingerprints as opposed to doing the work you're meant to?"

"You bet. So, can we make the deal?"

Ryuk was suddenly unsure. "It's not like I can tell you you can't. But...Akira, are you sure you want to do this? It's half your life span."

Akira sat up and folded her arms. "I know. But this life is the only thing stopping me from becoming a Shingami, like you. I'm not going to go jump in front of a bus or anything, but it's not like I'm holding onto it."

Beside her Ryuk sat up. "Well, if you're sure..."

"I am."

Ryuk gave her the eyes. She waited a moment. "Well?" he asked.

"Is everything supposed to be red-tinted?" she asked, blinking. Ryuk grinned.

"Yup. You now have the eyes of a Shinigami," Ryuk said proudly.

Akira grinned as she hurled herself at Ryuk, hugging him ferociously as she dragged him up and into an impromptu victory dance, laughing happily.

"Gah!" Ryuk exclaimed. "Geeze you're strong! You're awfully happy at the loss of half your life!"

His little sister paused, grinning, "soon I'll be just like you! Of course I'm happy! I can't wait until tomorrow!"

"Why? What's happening tomorrow?" he asked, confused as Akira let him go. He wondered if Shingami could get broken ribs. If Akira continued being that exuberant, that was what was going to happen.

"Tomorrow I'm telling Light that I know he's Kira."

**Author's Note: I've tried to make Ryuk more than an apple-loving side-character here. Tell me how you think I've done!**

**-XOX, Pangie**


	5. Ryuk's happy dance

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of its associated characters or fictional locations.

The Shinigami Sister

Chapter Five

Ryuk's Happy Dance

The morning after Ryuk had gone to confront the girl, Light noticed something odd about him. Besides the fact that he was an ugly flying monster who literally killed people for a living and had an apple fetish.

Ryuk was humming.

It began around breakfast time. Mrs Yagami was talking to Sayu about some party his sister was thinking about going to and had just given him some cereal. He had heard a sound that, if he had bothered to imagine such a noise, would be what he would imagine a tone deaf bee being tortured would sound like. Light winced.

"What is that?" he asked his mother. She gave him a confused look.

"What is what?"

"That humming noise."

Now she gave him a strange look. "I don't hear anything, Light...Are you alright?"

"Bet you've been listening to music too loud instead of studying," teased Sayu. At about this time Light realised that, since neither his mother or sister seemed to be able to hear it, it must have been something only he could hear. Was _Ryuk _making that awful sound?

"Something like that," Light grinned flippantly and went back to his cereal.

"You should know better than that, Light," his mother told him patronisingly.

"I know," replied Light. He began eating faster so he would be able to run to his room and throw something at Ryuk for making that _damn humming sound _and hopefully make him stop, before Ryuk drove him crazy. Then Light heard another sound. He was unsure if Ryuk felt a need to fill in the silence which then fell as Sayu and his mother ran out of things to say or if he wanted to try for Shinigami Idol. What ever the reason, the sound he had heard was of Ryuk discovering the fail-safe for people everywhere who don't know the words to a song but decide to sing it anyway.

Ryuk had just discovered the 'la'.

"La, la la," began the Shinigami, deciding to then add a dance sequence to his song. He began doing cartwheels in midair around the room while doing an odd shaking of the arms and legs. "La, la la la LAAAAAA! La la la, lala, lalalala, la LA!" Light realised he was grinding his teeth. Ryuk stopped cartwheeling and began doing a dance, one which had once fallen under the category of 'disco' before Ryuk came along and mutilated it, behind Mrs Yagami.

Light's mother saw her son staring at something just beyond her shoulder, his face slack with horror, his spoon forgotten in his hand. She glanced over her shoulder, not seeing Ryuk's new dance move, which consisted of his trying to do the Slide, nod his head and move it from side to side at the same time, making him look somewhat like a sprinkler.

She turned back to Light. "What is it, Light?"

"...Huh?" Light said slowly, as if awakening from a daze. Mrs Yagami noticed that he seemed to be looking at her face very hard, as if trying not to look away.

"You've been staring off into the distance for a while now," she told him. "With a kind of..._horrified _look, I would call it."

"Did you remember a test you'd forgotten?" asked Sayu with sympathy. "I do that all the time."

"Yeah," Light smiled ruefully. Neither his mother nor Sayu saw the clenched teeth. He hurriedly finished breakfast, and began running upstairs, followed by Ryuk as he did back-flips backwards while singing "la la la lalala" over and over again, each time with greater volume than the last.

Sayu looked at her mother. "Mum, do you think something is wrong with Light? He totally just ran upstairs."

Taking on a worried expression, Mrs Yagami said, "I'm not sure, Sayu. Now, about this party..."

*****

"Lala. Lala. Lala lala lala lalala LAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Lalala!" Ryuk sang as he followed Light upstairs. Light wondering just _where the hell _Ryuk had head the theme song for the Pink Panther.

"La laaaaaaaaaaaaa lala lala. La LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LALALALA!" Or the tune to 'Singing in the Rain'. Light was now at his bedroom door.

"La laaaaaaaaaaa lalala...la la la la LAAAAAAAAA LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Light cut Ryuk off halfway through the last note of 'The Sound of Music' song with a heavy book thrown, quite hard, at Ryuk's face. "Ow," said the Shinigami as it dropped onto the floor with a hard thump.

"Light," yelled his mother. "Is something the matter?"

"I just dropped a book," replied Light, glaring at Ryuk.

"Oh, okay," his mother said.

"What was that for?" Ryuk asked Light.

"What was all that about?" asked Light at the exact same time. They paused, looking at each other.

"Jinx!" Ryuk said with the delight of a five year old.

"What? That's a little childish-"

"And so am I!" the shingami rejoiced. Light decided that it was closer to four years than five. "Come on Light, let's dance!" Ryuk began dancing again. Light took another year off his age, slightly worried that the God of Death who could kill him at any moment was dancing around his room like a lunatic on happy pills. Still, he was no longer singing. Ryuk saw that he was the only one dancing and paused. "Come on, Light, how come you're not dancing as well?"

"What do you mean 'as well'?" Light asked faintly, wondering if it was possible for Shinigami to go insane. "What you were doing wasn't dancing. I thought you'd overdosed on apples and were having a fit."

Ryuk began hyuking. "Overdose on apples-that's a good one." _Insanity is definitely possible_, thought Light. "Mind you, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea..." Light decided that Ryuk's mental age had now leveled down to about two.

"No. You're barely tolerable how you are now! No way am I letting you overdose on apples."

Ryuk looked at him, then adopted a silly expression which sat strangely on his face, making Light deduct another year. "Will I be tolerable if I start singing again?"

"NO!" yelled Light. "Wait- just how would that make you tolerable?! IT MAKES NO SENSE!" But it was too late.

"La la la la la lalala la la la la la la lalala!" began Ryuk, making up his own tune this time. Light winced, deciding that Ryuk's mental age was now in the negatives.

"You do realise that YOU ARE COMPLETELY TONE DEAF!" he yelled.

"La la la your mum's completely tone deaf la la la!" sang Ryuk childishly. A knock on his bedroom door came just as Light was wondering how on earth Ryuk had obtained brain damage -had the girl he met with last night hit him extremely hard on the head or something?

_Wait...The girl_!, he thought just as he said, "come in." Mrs Yagami entered, looking worried.

"Speak of the devil, lalala," sang Ryuk cheerfully. Naturally, Mrs Yagami didn't hear him.

"I heard shouting," she told him worredly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," he replied.

"Well, the way you've been acting this morning...Are you sure nothing is wrong?"

Light realised that, if he didn't want this mother thinking he was cracking up and wanting to keep a closer eye on him (which he definitely didn't want) he would need to think up a good excuse, and fast. ..._the way I've been acting..._Acting_, that's it_!

"Yeah, well, it's funny you say 'acting', because I was actually just practising some lines for this play I'm trying out for at school," he said smoothly with just the right amount of bashfulness. This performance was impressive, even to him, because he was trying to restrain himself from throwing another book at Ryuk, who had begun doing (and 'lala'ing the tune to) the macarina right behind his mother. But, seeing that he wanted to convince his mother that he was completely sane, he didn't think throwing a book in her general direction would be such a good idea.

At his last words, the worried look of Mrs Yagami's face evaporated, replaced by pride and relief. "Oh, so _that's _it. You're getting into _drama_. Well, drama is all well and good, but try to leave it in the theatre, okay?"

"Okay, mum." _Now please go so I can make Ryuk shut the hell up and STOP THAT DAMN DANCING!_

"But why are you getting into the theatre _now_? You've never shown an interest in it before?" asked his mother.

Light went for the simplest explanation. "Well...There's this...Girl, and she-"

"Ah, I understand," nodded his mother with a motherly smile. "A girl. Just remember, don't try to make yourself into something your not for someone you barely know."

Wondering just why, exactly Ryuk was doing the macarina upside-down, Light replied, "okay, I'll remember." His mother shut the door and left.

Ryuk collapsed onto Light's bed. "I thought she'd never leave."

"_But it's your fault she came in_!" hissed Light.

"How could it be my fault? I'm not the one who was shouting like a crazy person. Wow, look at the time. You'd better get ready for school, or you'll be late."

Light rested his head against the door frame, deciding that bashing his head against it wouldn't be a good idea, no matter how much he would like to. That and it would probably make Ryuk dance some more.

And, at that moment, that was the last thing he wanted.

*****

At school, Light was pondering what Akira (and he didn't miss the irony of the name) could have done to make Ryuk act like a high school girl with a crush. Make that a tone deaf high school girl with a crush and _way _too much energy. Wait...Maybe that was it? Light glanced at Ryuk from the corner of his eye. He was waiting out the front of the school for class to start while Ryuk was flying around in little circles above him, still occassionally humming. Light was relieved that the Shinigami had calmed down a bit.

And was slightly depressed that he now resorted to classifying flying around in little circles while occasionally humming any where near calm.

Light sighed. Ryuk had told him to wait there because Akira had something to tell him. But if she didn't show up soon...

Almost as if sensing his thoughts, a head of blue hair appeared a little way away. The girl saw him and began walking towards him.

When she reached him she smiled brightly and beckoned for him to come closer, like she had something to whisper in his ear. Light, wondering what she wanted to say, moved his head within whispering range.

*****

Akira was like Ryuk. She wanted entertainment. And she could think of no better way to gain entertainment from this encounter by surprising the seemingly unsurprisable Light Yagami. She wanted to somehow shock him out of his usual amiable self. And Akira thought she had the two perfect words to do it.

Into Light's ear, she whispered those two words.

*****

"_Surprise, Kira_."

Surprise was right.

**Author's note:**

**Howdy, all. It's been so long since I wrote on this...If this fic was my baby, it would be confiscated for being neglected for too long.**

**You have MRegent.2 to thank for making me get into gear and write another chapter.**

**-XOX, Pangie**

**PS-Beware of grandma's evil cats.**

**PPS- Yes, I know I've said that about four million times now.**

**PPPS- But, seriously, you can never be too careful of those sly buggers. They're evil. EEEEEEEEVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!**


	6. The Unstoppable Allies

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the fictional characters or locations.

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Chapter Six**

**The Unstoppable Allies**

Light blinked.

Akira smiled.

Light blinked again, the magnificent gears in his head whirring, the pieces falling into place.

Akira poked him.

"Ow," said Light, rubbing his ribs. "That hurt."

"Sorry. Guess I just have bony fingers," admitted Akira. "But you weren't reacting, so I thought you were off in your own world or something." She had actually poked him because she disliked that look in his eyes. That considering look which made her flesh creep and made her think of an apple, perfect on the outside, but black and rotten at the core...Which was why she had poked him.

"I guess you could say I was," Light told her. Ryuk hyuked behind him. Akira looked straight up at the Shinigami before looking back at Light.

"You look happy, Ryuk," she commented, confirming Light's thoughts.

"You have no idea," Light said. "Which reminds me, Ryuk, just how did you manage to learn those tunes you were singing before?"

"Akira taught me some," Ryuk said. Light's eyebrows rose.

"Your name is Akira?" he asked.

"Yup." Guessing where his thoughts were heading, she said, "I know, creepy, right?" The bell went. "Come on, we'd better get to class. We have first period together."

"Yeah," replied Light as he followed Akira. Akira had gotten ahead of him, a good few students between them, when Ryuk spoke.

"Hey, Light," whispered Ryuk eagerly. "She's great, isn't she?"

"You're much more excited than usual," murmured Light, opening his cell phone. "Who is she?"

"You know her name," evaded Ryuk cautiously.

"That's not what I mean and you know it," Light told him. "Who is she to you?"

"...Someone," evaded Ryuk.

"'Someone'? She's 'someone' to everyone. I mean what is your relationship with her?"

"Oh...you know..." Ryuk vaguely trailed off.

"No, I don't. That's why I'm asking," Light pointed out. He was coming to class and Akira had already gone in. Light sighed. "Never mind, I guess it doesn't really matter." Light had already concluded that Akira was someone very important to the Shinigami. That much was clear. And it really didn't matter if Ryuk had decided he would act like Akira's father or what ever Ryuk felt for the girl, it only mattered that Ryuk cared about her a lot.

Maybe even enough to risk his life for her...

Akira was sitting at the same desk as usual. Light sat in his usual desk. They ignored each other. At the end of the lesson, the bell went. She wandered up to Light and asked him, "do you have anything next?"

Light shook his head. "No, I have a free period."

"I don't, but I don't feel like going to class. Want to go sit on the tennis court?"

Light nodded, wondering what Akira was doing. "Sure."

They went and, when Akira was sure that no-one would be able to hear them, she said, "you see, now people won't be surprised if we start hanging around more."

"I thought that was what you were doing."

"And, if I don't have a cigarette soon, I may possibly murder someone," Akira admitted cheerfully as she plonked herself in the shade near the tennis courts. She looked at Light's momentarily surprised face. "What?"

"You smoke?"

"Yeah. Want one?" she asked as she took out the cigarettes from her bag.

"No thanks. I think it's a disgusting habit. I may go stand in the wind so your second-hand smoke doesn't poison me," Light told her as he stood near the fence.

Akira laughed as she drew out a lighter and lit the cigarette. She inhaled, exhaled, putting the lighter back in her bag. "Wimp. You're a killer. I thought you would have more balls than anyone."

Light didn't smile. "I am not a killer," he told her calmly.

Akira nodded. "Yeah, I know. Ryuk told me about your personal philosophy. Guess I shouldn't have said that. Sorry." She ignored the chill that had crept down her spine when Light had looked at her, making a mental note to avoid words like 'killer' and the like in the future. She could never forget about the rotten-n-the-inside feeling she got with Light, but she could push it to the back of her mind, and that would have to be good enough. "Thirsty?" She asked as she reached in her bag again, removing both a little portable ashtray with a cover to protect the contents of her bag and a bottle of-

Light's eyebrows rose, almost as if of their own accord. "Is that..."

"Premium quality Sake. Normally I prefer Western alcohol because I generally like it better than Sake, but this stuff is really good," she said eagerly as the opened the bottle and drank, swallowed and sighed. "Want some?"

Light shook his head. "I prefer to keep a clear head. DO you do this often?"

"What? Skip class to drink and smoke?"

Light nodded.

"Nah. Well, to smoke...Sometimes, if my dad's being particularly strict about it. He's tried putting me on these patch thingies, but they don't work. Not to drink, though. I don't actually drink that much." She grinned wickedly. "I like to keep a clear head too, Pretty-Boy."

"I...Pardon?" asked Light, wondering if he'd heard wrong.

"Pretty-Boy. You're pretty, and a boy -unless you're hiding something, that is?"

Light gave her a withering look, which she laughed at. "No."

"Ergo, Pretty-Boy. Besides, it suits you, you being the perfect A-grader good-boy. You're too pretty for Brown-Noser, so instead it's Pretty-Boy."

Light really didn't have anything to say to this. "Have you seen Ryuk? He seems to have abandoned us..."

"He's getting the apples."

"Here I am!" said a familiarly dry voice. Ryuk carried a basket of apples.

"I hope you were careful," Light said as Ryuk came closer.

"Of course I was. No-one saw me take them or carry them."

"And now the celebration can really start!" rejoiced Akira as she grabbed an apple, holding her cigarette in the same hand she held the bottle of Sake. "Apple, Light?"

"Sure," Light said as he slowly took one. As one, Akira and Ryuk both took the largest apple they could see, bit off as much as they could (with Akira this was about a quarter of the apple, with Ryuk half of his) and began chewing. Hen they realised that Light was staring at them, the apple half way to his mouth, they simultaneously turned to his and gave him big, cheesy grins, complete with half-chewed apple.

"Urgh," Light said as they laughed, Akira almost choking before swallowing, then alughed some more. "That was disgusting."

"Oh, you'll live," Akira told him. Light took a bite of the apple. He didn't actually like them that much, probably because you can only be sprayed in the face enough times with bits of apple by a Shinigami who refuses to swallow before he talks to you before you start to hate the thing your face is sprayed with. But he hadn't had much breakfast that morning (having wanted to get the opportunity to throw something as Ryuk as soon as possible) so he decided that it was better than nothing. Something which had been lurking in his mind stuck a hand up, drawing Light;s notice to something. He swallowed and asked, "so, what are we celebrating."

Akira, who had been about to take another sip of alcohol, stared at him. "Our alliance, obviously." She took another drag from the cigarette before sipping at the Sake.

"What alliance is this?" asked Light, confused.

"Ours."

"...I'm afraid you'll have to explain a little more."

She sighed before eating some more of her apple, waving a hand at Ryuk.

"Me? Oh...Okay," Ryuk said. "So Akira here had the Shinigami eyes-"

Light, who had just taken another bite of apple, choked on it. For a moment he hacked on it. Akira swallowed hers. "Huh, amateur," she scoffed, being an expert apple-eater. "Should we help?" asked Ryuk, unconcerned as he reached for his third apple. "Nah."

Light finally spat out the offending apple piece and coughed a few times.

"That was disgusting, Light," Akira parroted his own words back to him. Light ignored it.

"Y- cough you have the eyes?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, yes I do," Akira stated loudly as she finished off her apple. She reached for another and smacked Ryuk's hand when he did the same. "Stop scoffing hem faster than me!"

"Sorry, Akira, you snooze you lose."

As Akira and Ryuk began to fight for who ever would get the next apple, Light butted in. "How?"

They stared at him in confusion.

"How do you have the Shinigami eyes? Don't you need a Death note for that?"

"I was confused about that too," asked Ryuk. "But then I thought that I think it must have something to do with Akira and my connection. I have access to a Death Note so, in a way, so does she."

"...Oh," Light said. "And this alliance is..."

"Between you and I," Akira toasted him with the Sake. "You sure you don't want any? It's really good..."

"Positive."

"Okay, so I want to be with Ryuk, and I've been kind of...I think I need to be near you," she said to Light. "I've been feeling kind of sick when I'm not near someone who had a Death Note, so I guess I kind of need to be near either you of Ryuk."

"I suppose that makes sense," Light said, frowning a little.

"So, here's the thing. I help you out with names, you let me stick around. And that's the alliance." Akira finished off her cigarette, crunching it in the ash tray. "Ah, that's better."

"So you would help me? Why?"

"...Didn't I just explain-"

"No, because I feel that you have another reason." Light eyed her. Akira avoided his eyes. "Why do you want to help me?"

"Honest answer?" she asked, swallowing down the rest of the Sake. She threw the apple core in the bin which was near, getting it in from a few metres away.

"Honest answer," answered Light.

She looked directly into his eyes. "I'm bored."

Light had to smile at this.

"Something funny?"

Light looked up at her, glancing between her ad Ryuk. "I just find it interesting. Ryuk over there was bored so he dropped the Death Note in this world. Him doing that at the same time where I was getting bored meant that I began this...crusade, I suppose you could call it. And what both Ryuk and I have accomplished meant that you, who are also bored, are now joining us. The three of us are like links in a chain. One leads to another.

"And what we can accomplish together...What we could do...Nothing can get in our way. No-one can stop us."

Akira snagged an apple just before Ryuk's reaching fingers touched it, tossed it into the air, caught it with her other hand. "Amen to that." She bit into it.

Light smiled, and it was one of those rotten-apple moments which made Akira look away. "L...My adversary...He is as good as _dead_."

**Author's Note-**

**As always, I apologise for the late update.**

**Peace and Love,**

**-XOX, Pangie**


	7. Meeting the Parents

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Chapter Seven**

**Meeting the Parents**

"Welcome home, Akira, how was your...Oh," her father looked up, surprise lifting his eyebrows. "Hello...Light Yagami, is it?"

"Yes, sir," nodded Light respectively as Akira shut her front door behind them both, having just walked into her house. Akira threw her bag into the corner of the front room.

This seeming respect made Akira's father smile approvingly. "Of course it is, I think everyone knows your face. One hundred per cent on the test scores, was it?"

"Yes, sit. Every percent from studying."

The older man nodded. "Modesty, that's what I like to see in young people. Did you know that Akira could have gotten a hundred if she tried?"

"Dad," protested Akira. "Can we not bring this up?"

"But she just doesn't take school seriously."

"That's because it's boring."

Light was looking at Akira curiously. "You could have really gotten a hundred percent?"

Akira shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably. But, who cares?"

"Me and your mother."

"Yeah, but you're my parents. You're _meant_ to care."

"So are you!"

"He's got a point, you know," Light mused logically.

Akira glared at him. "You're supposed to side with me!"

"I'm just saying."

Her father laughed. "Hopefully you'll be a good influence on my daughter."

"Let's hope so-"

"Okay, enough sucking up to the parents," Akira cut him short as she interrupted, dragging Light away. "Me and Light are going to go..._study_ in my room, 'kay dad? See you."

As Akira went to her room, the smile melted off her father's face. The emphasis she had put on study... There was no way that girl was actually studying.

She was up to something.

And, on top of that, a fact which only then became clear...She smelled like cigarettes.

*****

Akira dragged Light into her room, shut the door and burst out laughing. "Did you see his face? That was hilarious!"

Light was frowning. "Now he's going to think you and I are..."

"I know! That's why it's funny!" She collapsed on her bed. "I knew this would be entertaining."

"I'm glad you're enjoying this," he told her dryly as he sat on the edge of the bed, furthest away from Akira as he could get. Then they heard the sounds of footsteps.

"My dad," Akira grinned. "Let's wind him up a little. Come on, Light..."

"What – Akira! No-"

*****

Akira's father heard the sounds of someone protesting as he burst into Akira's room. He stood gaping for a moment, wishing that he was seeing something other than what he was seeing.

Akira had her arms and legs wrapped around Light and was pulling him backwards, on top of her. The boy was completely surprised.

The situation wasn't helped by the fact that Akira was wearing a skirt.

"Akira!" exclaimed her father, aghast.

She cackled as she let go of Light, who sat up, blushing. "Uh...I'm s-sorry, sir," he said, obviously shocked.

"Akira..." her father said again, trailing off. What could he say? Don't seduce the poor boy? Or, which was what seemed more likely to be happening, don't _rape_ him?

She smiled innocently. "Yes, dad?"

"...Leave him alone," he told her lamely.

"Oh, I don't think he _wants_ to be left alone," hinted Akira with a knowing smile.

He gave Light a suspicious look. Light held up his hands. "I swear, sir, I had no idea she was going to do anything like that!"

"Hm," he said suspiciously.

"So, dad, was there something you wanted?" asked Akira as she deliberately cuddled up to Light. He tried to edge away but Akira had a hold on his arm.

"Yes. Is that cigarette smoke I smell?" snapped her father.

"...No." He gave her a look. "Okay, yes, it is. But-"

"No buts, Akira! In this house there is no smoking!"

"Technically I didn't actually do it in the house-"

Her father held out his hand. "I want those cigarettes right now."

"...Why? Are you starting smoking?" Akira gave him a serious look. "You know it's bad for you-"

"Akira."

She gave him the cigarettes.

"And the lighter."

"You took it, remember?"

"Matches."

She gave him the matches.

"Thankyou," Akira's father said. "And no more..." He tried to find a word for it. Instead he just gestured to them. "No more of this."

"Yes, sir," Light said before the man shut the door. Once he did Light jumped up, backing away from Akira as the girl laughed.

"Ah, now _that_...that was funny. I'm trying to decide what was funnier, seeing his reaction or yours...Maybe I should throw myself at you some more."

"You'd better not," snapped Light. "I came here because you said you wanted to talk over some plans or something. Not to be played with."

"But, Light, you're so much _fun_ to play with."

"I second that," seconded Ryuk, who had been quietly hyuking to himself all the time.

Light stood and walked towards the door. "If that's all you invited me here for, then I may as well leave-"

"Wait!" said both Ryuk and Akira.

"Remember, Light, Akira has got to stay near us or she might die because of the eye deal," Ryuk told him.

"You seem to think I care," the boy said coldly.

"Light...I'm sorry, did it really offend you that much?" apologised Akira as she lay on her stomach, peeking up at him through her lashes. "I guess I get carried away sometimes...I just like doing things my own way."

Light's anger receded at the apology. "How am I supposed to trust you if you 'like doing things your own way'? And why did you even invite me here? Was it really to annoy your father?"

"No. Well, not exactly...You see, Light, I did tell you why I invited you here."

"No, you didn't."

"I did...I told you. _I am bored._ I want to be entertained. It doesn't matter if it's from my dad's reactions or because of what ever interesting thing you decide to do as Kira. I just was to be entertained."

"So I'm just a toy for you to play with?"

"Hm...I'd say you're more of...A book I like to read. Where I'm also one of the characters."

"A book?" questioned Light. He looked at her closely. "Have you forgotten who I am? Ryuk, have you? You seem to think I'm just normal. That you can just treat me how ever you want to. But you forget..._I am Kira_ and if you get in my way I _will_ eliminate you."

For a moment Akira looked at him, her golden eyes large and her skin pale.

Then she laughed.

The completely unexpected reaction took Light by surprise. He sat back and looked at Ryuk, who was hyuking gently.

"Who cares?" Akira tossed around casually, as she turned over so she lay on her back, spreading her dark tresses above her head, running her fingers through it. "Hm...Pass me that brush, would you, Ryuk?"

As Ryuk did so Akira sat up and Light appraised her. "What do you mean 'who cares'?"

"I mean who cares if I die?" She ran the brush through her hair. "I just want to become a Shinigami after all."

"...Pardon?"

Akira turned her golden orbs to Light, a smile touching her pale, pink lips, as she slowly pronounced, "I want to be a Shinigami." Ryuk's hyuks took on a more satisfied tone. Light didn't need to ask why. It meant he couldn't hold Akira's life over Ryuk's head any more. Akira squinted her eyes a little. "Could you cover your watch, please?"

Light glanced down at his watch. The smooth face of it had caught the light, but it wasn't reflecting brightly. "Why?"

"'Cause it's bright."

"Not really," Light disagreed as he smoothed his sleeve over his watch.

"It is for me."

"Sensitive eyes?"

"Very." _That's what comes from living in the dark for so long._ The words were on her lips, hanging between her and Ryuk. But they were not for Light's ears.

"Is that why you're normally wearing those sunglasses?"

"Uh-huh. I left them at home today because it looked cloudy. It was kind of an experiment."

"To find out what?"

"If my eyes were the same."

"It's not like they'd change over night," pointed out Light.

"No...But, still. Don't you ever push the boundaries, Light?" she asked as she set the brush down, her hair glinting blue as the light struck it. "Don't you ever see if things have changed? And if they are, try to change them? You never do that?"

"...Not that I know of," answered the boy.

"Don't you get bored?"

Light smiled and it was another rotten-apple moment. "That's why I have the Death Note."

"Can you show it to me?"

Light was taken aback. "You want to see it?"

"I've seen Ryuk's but I want to see yours too."

"If you would like to come over to my house."

Akira smiled. "My dad's going to love that."

Light grimaced. "Could you...I don't know, just be a little more reserved around him? I'll just tell him my mum and sister's home."

"Yeah, I know Sayu."

"...You do?"

"Yeah. At some parties we go drinking together."

"...You and _Sayu_?"

"Yeah. I'm, probably some kind of bad influence on her." She looked at Light innocently. "What's wrong, Light?"

"You do remember I'm Sayu's brother, right? Who's supposed to help and protect her?"

"Yeah, so?" Akira snorted. "Oh, you think she shouldn't drink alcohol, right? I only ever drink with her if she says it first. I don't egg her on or anything. Well...Not unless I've had a bit too much to drink-"

"I'm ending this conversation here," said Light firmly. "So, you want to come over to my house? Let's go then."

"Now?"

"Unless you have something else to-"

"Hell, no. I'll be right there. I'm just going to change out of my uniform first. Wait in the front room for me." Light exited the room as Akira stood and began fiddling with her clothes. The door opened, shut. Akira paused and looked behind her. Light had exited the room. Akira smiled and lay down again, looking up at the ceiling with her head resting in her hands.

"Hey, Ryuk?" she asked Ryuk, who hadn't left the room. "Do you think it would be too cruel on Light to give him a few minutes alone with my dad?"

"Hyuk, no, I don't think that would be too cruel at all," smirked Ryuk.

"Good. Neither do I." She rested for a few moments in silence, a small smirk which was suspiciously like Ryuk's playing about her mouth. After a while she said, "he thinks we've forgotten."

"Hm?" asked Ryuk, unsure of the context.

"He thinks we've forgotten who and what he is." She smiled but it had no mirth. "He doesn't know that I could never forget."

*****

"...So, Light," began Akira' father in the semblance of friendliness which said that his approving attitude towards Light had altered somewhat. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well, sir, truth tell there's not much to tell," Light replied. "I go to school, I go home. Sometimes I go out but not much. Especially not much lately."

"You don't go to parties?" grinned the older man.

"No. Truth tell I'm not much of a dancer, and I don't like to drink."

"That's a _good_ attitude to have. Especially for a young man," said Akira's father in a tone which stated, quite plainly, that he didn't believe Light. "So you never feel the urge to just pick up a bottle?"

"Well, naturally I'm curious...But I'm really too busy to go out and dad doesn't keep much alcohol at home," Light replied.

"How about smoking? My daughter's not getting you hooked, is she?" asked the man with a crocodile-like smile.

"I don't like cigarettes," Light told him. "I try to ask Akira not to smoke, actually."

"Oh, you _do_ now?" laughed Akira's father, still disbelieving. "How about apples?"

"...Apples?"

"Akira has a bit of a habit of stealing them."

"She _what_?" asked Light. "I mean...I knew she liked them...but she actually steals them?"

"Stole, past tense. She stopped after while. After being caught a few times by the local fruit sellers they began calling the police. It was quite stressful when your daughter, not even a teenager yet, was escorted home by police. They always thought it was funny, though. I think they had a soft spot for Akira."

Light processed this and decided that it was probably more likely that, instead of stopping stealing the apples, Akira had just gotten better at it so she was never caught. "I can honestly say that I have never stolen an apple before. I don't think I've ever thought about stealing an apple before...It seems a little pointless. But Akira would have grown out of it by now, right? I mean you said it was before she was a teenager, so it would have been a while ago."

Akira's father appraised Light thoughtfully. "She hasn't told you how old she is?"

"...No. I would guess seventeen."

"She's thirteen."

This honestly surprised Light and he let it show. "...Thirteen? And she smokes?"

"I think she steals them too," the older man said disapprovingly. "But yes, she's thirteen. Still a child, really."

"Yeah," agreed Light vaguely, wondering why the other man was looking at him like the words being said had a special meaning.

"Barely a teenager, tough she thinks of herself as an adult. Probably wants to do all sorts of things adults do...But she can't because she's still a child."

Light realised just what Akira's father was implying. "Oh, oh, no, sir...I wouldn't think of... I mean, I don't-"

"Like blue hair, do you?" asked the man, giving Light a sharp look. "Or gold eyes? Because there's more to someone than meets the eye."

"I know, sir, but me and Akira are just _friends_. I think she was just..." _How to tell a father his daughter is playing with him?_

"Playing with me?" finished Akira's father with a wry grin. "Maybe."

"So, we ready to go?" asked Akira as she walked in. Light looked around and froze.

_That is _not_ what I meant when I said 'a little more reserved'_! Light thought furiously. Akira apparently like to dress a lot like Ryuk did, in a Gothic rock sort of way. Black, grey, and blues were her thing. But Light wouldn't have had a problem with this. It was the _short skirt _which he had to admit having a problem with.

It wasn't just short. It was _short_.

"Go?" asked her father.

"Me and Light are going to his place," Akira said as she grabbed Light and tugged him out of the room. "I'll be back home for dinner." The door shut with Akira's father looking at his daughter and Light in horror.

"I did say 'reserved'," pointed out Light.

"I always dress like this. Well, I have to admit, the last time I wore this skirt it was a little longer on me...But it doesn't matter."

"I think it did to your father," he murmured.

"I know," laughed Akira.

Light sighed.

*****

"Hello, I'm Akira," greeted Akira, bowing to Light's mother and sister. As she looked up she saw Sayu staring at her as Mrs Yagami's gaze was diverted to Light and winked. Sayu grinned. "Nice to meet you.

"And you too," mumbled Mrs Yagami.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," smiled Sayu.

"We're going to go up to my room now," Light told them before walking up the stairs to his bedroom. Akira smiled at the other two women before following him.

"So, this is your room?" asked Akira as she sat on his bed.

"I was about to offer you a seat, but go ahead," remarked Light dryly.

"Where's your Death Note?"

"Turn around and I'll get it out."

"You know, I could just ask Ryuk."

"Ryuk, would you really-"

"It's in the first drawer, but it's booby trapped so you'd better let Light get it out."

"Really? What kind of booby trap?" asked Akira, looking interested.

"You'd better let Light explain it."

Light sighed. "There's no way I can win with you two, is there?"

"Nope," they said at the same time as they both procured apples.

"You didn't need to bring food," Light told them as he got out his Death Note.

"We didn't. We passed an apple stall on the way here."

"So...you stole them?"

"Well, we didn't exactly stop and pay for them," admitted Akira. "Considering that the shop keeper wouldn't actually be able to see Ryuk, don't you think it's a good thing? He'd probably get creeped out by random floating coins." She bit into the apple.

"Probably," conceded Light as he held out the Death Note, watching carefully.

Akira looked at the cover, running her fingers slowly over the black material, then over the two words 'Death Note'. She examined both back and front covers in this manner, inspecting every inch, before she opened it. She touched the inside cover in the same way, fingers running over the black and white like explorers mapping a country.

"The rules," she breathes as she read them. She read all the rules, then read them all again, as if memorising them. Almost reluctantly she moved on to the names. She went trough, saw the scrawled handwriting, the alternating from Japanese characters to English letters. As Light could, she could read both. She smirked as she came across the name of the criminal who had played L on television. "Kind of walked into that one, didn't you?" she muttered without really expecting an answer. She read over all the names, then read them again, as if committing them to memory too. After she turned each of the pages, even though they were blank. She came across the ripped page. "So it works if you take some out," she asked quietly.

"Yeah," replied Light in the affirmative.

But Akira wasn't really listening. The Death Note...It was almost a part of her brother. But this one she could understand. She read the rules again, touching the covers as she shut them and handed it back to Light.

Light almost blinked as he took it back. It was as if he had been awakened from a daze. Watching Akira explore the Death Note had been enrapturing for some reason. It was as if she regarded the Death Note as a holy object.

"Took a while, didn't you," he mocked lightly as he slid the Death Note away.

"Shut up," she replied. "I did not. It's only been..." She checked her watch. "An hour? How...Whoa. Guess I _did_ take a while. But that doesn't matter. Come on, Light, who are you going to kill today?"

*****

When Akira eventually arrived home, it was with a great deal of regret. Watching Light write names and then seeing their names popping up on the computer as their death were reported to Light's father, knowing that they were dead...It was thrilling.

Akira liked to be thrilled.

But now she was home. And she should probably do that homework that was due in...Was it the next day? And that assignment which had been due in last week but the teacher, knowing what she was like, had not bothered telling her off, just told her to get it in soon if she didn't want to fail the course.

She walked through the door and looked for her bag, which she had remembered throwing in the corner of the front room.

But it wasn't there.

"Mum?" she called, hearing the sound of someone bustling around in the kitchen. "Did you move my bag?"

She walked into the kitchen and saw her bag on the table.

The empty bottle of Sake was next to it.

"You mean this bag?" asked her mother with a venomous tone.

"...Uh. Yeah, that would be...Um..." Akira said sheepishly.

"You do realise that this is your father's favourite Sake?"

Akira hung her head. "Yes, mum."

"And that he is very disappointed in you ? We both are!"

"Yes, mum."

"But we've had this conversation before," sighed her mother. "And all I can do now is ground you."

"What?"

"For a month."

"Mum, that is really not a good idea."

"Oh, I think it is."

*****

Akira walked back to her room, irritated beyond belief. Grounded? She hated being grounded. But for a month?

She sighed, switching on her computer as she thought, almost habitually. Akira had tried wheedling, begging, whining and all other manners of getting out of it but there it still was. Grounded for a month.

Not being able to see Ryuk and Light as much, she would get sicker and sicker...And then she would probably die...

Actually, her parents probably would un-ground her before then. They would worry. Then they would watch her. And probably insist on spending _quality time _together...

No. Akira would just have to find a way to spend time with Light or Ryuk _without_ her parents knowing...

Before she could ponder on this some more a 'you have mail' icon popped up. Akira walked over and checked it. There were a few e-mails from her friends. She spent a few minutes reading them before something else happened.

An icon popped up on her screen. The whole screen was filled up with two base colours.

For a moment Akira just stared, her golden eyes reflecting the Gothically crafted letter appearing on the screen.

The she smiled.

"Long time no see..._L_."

**Author's Note-**

**I would like to remind everyone that the original idea for this fic was Yami Yugi Alexander the 4th's, who supplied most of the ideas for this chapter, and for the next one too.**

**Peace and Love,**

**-XOX, Pangie**


	8. The Death of Ryuk

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of it's associated fictional characters or locations.

**Author's Note: This is totally random and off topic, but I thought it was funny. I was writing this and my gaze drifted to a manga which was next to the keyboard. I had never taken note of the author. The author's first name was 'Akira'.**

**Weird, huh?**

**Peace and Love,**

**-XOX, Pangie**

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Chapter Eight**

**The Death of Ryuk**

"Hello, L," typed Akira without actually speaking the words aloud. The Gothic L disappeared and was replaced by

"Hello," replied L, the word appearing on the screen. The conversation was one purely done on the screen.

"Long time no see," she typed, smiling. "I feel like you've abandoned me."

"You were the one who left," pointed out L, the words almost accusatory as they appeared on the otherwise blank screen. Akira's smile melted. She never really felt like she could joke around with L. Not that she had ever met him. But she had spoken to him a few times in the same way they were speaking now.

"So, what's up?" she asked him with her fingers.

"Would you be willing to help in the Kira case?"

She frowned. Abruptness took all the fun out of taunting.

Then the words registered.

..._Help in the Kira case, huh_? She thought as a smile full of mischief crept across her lips. Helping Kira on one hand and L on the other. Two genius minds trying to find each other.

And she would be witness to it all.

She was laughing a low laugh as she typed her next words, the laugh coming from deep inside and threatening to escalate into a full-scale cackle. "Sure. I'll help."

"Thank you. Would you dispose of this computer after this conversation is finished?"

She stopped laughing. "Say what?" she typed.

He repeated the question.

"I can read. But I'm not throwing this computer out. It's totally safe, completely inaccessible for anyone but me. And I'll do a complete wipe o the memory. But I'm not throwing it out. My parents would kill me."

"It is not inaccessible."

She cocked her head curiously, golden eyes reflecting two miniaturised versions of the script in front of her. "Oh?"

"I accessed it."

She smiled again, snorting a little. "L, this computer was never made to keep you out." But before she entered it into the conversation she backspaced, taking back the words before he could read them. "That, L, is because you can access everything." Best keep the conversation light. Best keep it joking, even if it was difficult to joke with the person on the other side. Best not reveal that the computer had been made only to be accessible to a select few. Herself, L...and a few others.

Best not reveal that she had created a series of passwords which he, and those few others who knew her as he did, would be able to guess.

Best not let him know that a small part of her missed being surrounded by those minds and people.

And especially it would be best not to show him that she had been waiting.

Even though, having guessed the passwords, he would have already found out.

"True. From what I have seen this system is secure so as long as you take the necessary precautions it should not be necessary to dispose of it."

"Thank you."

"I will be in contact," said L, the person who she had been trained to come after, the person who had been on top of the pedestal, placed there by that orphanage those years ago. He typed only two more words before the screen went black, the system rebooting, the sudden blackness reflected in Akira's eyes.

He said, "goodbye, Ryuk."

*****

Ryuk's death had been a blow of the worst kind. It had been a punch to the face, a kick to the shin, a stab in the stomach, all at once, resulting in a pain so intense it robbed Akira of her very ability to think. It had been the most painful of losses, the rapid downfall of what had been to what then was a long, long drop which left Akira bereft and stunned.

No matter how bad things had gotten, no matter how hungry they had been, no matter how many times they were rejected by society in general, they had each other. They were Ryuk and Akira and that was that. They had rarely disagreed. They stole what little money and food they could get. They would live mostly in the dark, shadowy places where others feared to tread, only coming out rarely if pickings were particularly lean inside that shadowy place called the slums. Akira developed a quick mind in the ways of convincing others of lies she constructed around herself and manipulating them to give her things.

Despite their extreme poverty and troubles, they were happy and considered themselves lucky to be so.

Then came the day of Ryuk's death. The strangest thing was that it happened in that so-called 'safe' place of light and people. Another odd thing had been the rain. It rained a lot and they got drenched a lot, so they hardly noticed it. Thinking back on the day Akira knew it must have been raining when Ryuk tried to steal the apple. But, for some reason, she couldn't remember it being there. She could not remember noticing any rain until after...Until after.

Ryuk had been about to steal their favourite fruit form one of the many stalls but a hand had seized his. A member of the local gang. Apparently the stall owner had paid for the gang's protection after a number of his wares had been stolen. The gang member dragged Ryuk away from the stall and a little way away, into a little alleyway which no-one would come into. Akira had been a little way away, watching him from afar. When she saw this, saw Ryuk's struggles, she had come running. She had run into the entrance of that little alley, screaming for them to leave her brother alone. She had been knocked away by one of the many thugs who had been waiting there. Her little head had smashed into the wall, the blow rendering her unconscious, her last sight before darkness being that of her brother screaming as his arm was forcibly broken...

*****

Akira blinked. She shook her head, her blue tresses dancing around her face like dark worshippers around a silver moon. She had drifted off, the shadows of the past dragging her back into it. She finished ensuring her computer was secure and shut it down with a sigh. She was _tired_.

Akira stretched as she stood, wishing Ryuk was there. She suddenly felt a desire to make sure he was there, actually see-able, touch-able, just _there_, when, for so many years, he had not been. And it was also a matter of necessity. She was beginning to feel the slight queasy feeling which told her she needed to be near Ryuk or Light.

But how could she deal with that when she was grounded, unable to go out within her parents knowledge...

And there was her answer.

*****

Akira's awakening from her forced unconsciousness had been gradual. It had started with her noticing the rain for the first time. It fell thick and heavy, like it always did. But, for some reason, it was only then could she feel it.

It felt like a particularly large rock had fallen on the side of her head, and left a mark. A deep, throbbing ache was there. She, in her groggy, half-concious state, wished it would go away.

Then, along with everything else, it did.

Hours later she fully returned to conciousness. The rain still felt like rocks. It was like some shield had been removed, leaving her to the mercy of the rain.

She tried to open her eyes. At first her eyelids ignored her, like they were disconnected to her, no longer hers. Akira decided to leave them. She tried to move some other aspect of her. Her arm, maybe? She tried to move it. It twitched a little and the scrape of the rough path against her soaked skin was like a wake-up call.

A flash of panic rushed through her like an electric shock, it's source one word, not a particular thought or feeling associated with it, but how the general shape of it fitted in her heart. Ryuk.

The panic forced her eyes open without her needing any real effort or thought. The thoughts finally came.

Ryuk! She tried to scream it but only could do so in her mind, the only part of her which seemed to be even slightly under her control. Her brother was over there, right in front of her. She would get up. She would _move_.

Her body refused to move. It resisted, screaming warnings of pain at her, telling her what had happened to it.

But it was _Ryuk_ who was hurt.

He was _more important_ than the pain.

He was more important than _everything_.

She heaved her small body on all fours. The pain, nausea and dizziness forced the content of her stomach out and she threw up, coughing and spitting. She had no idea that the sounds of someone throwing up attracted the glance of an eye surrounded by creases which were the mark of age, that her small body convulsing drew the interest and concern of a certain aged person.

She forced herself to stand, almost as if by strength of will. She turned around and stumbled towards her brother. Her legs collapsed in protest. A sob escaped her lips. She dragged the unwilling air into her lungs, trying to gain from it the power to crawl to her brother if she could not walk to him.

The old man stepped uncertainly to the entrance of the alley.

Akira dragged herself over the rough path, scraping her skin but feeling nothing. She did not see the slivers of blood which clung to the cement, mostly washed away by the rain, as if the cold, heavy liquid were trying to wash away every sign that he had ever lived even as what was left of him clung determinately on. She made it to Ryuk...Or rather Ryuk's body, as her brother was no longer there.

The little girl with large golden eyes and dark hair which hung like damp ropes around her pale, thin face, saw the body of he who had been so close to her. She saw the bruises already formed. She saw the various cuts. The odd angles at which his limbs had been snapped. How his hand had been literally crushed by hard boots and strong legs. The way his cheeks had literally been sliced open in a horrifyingly mocking parody of a smile. His lips, normally a pinkish colour, red with that life-fluid which now so aptly showed his death.

And those wide, eyes, golden as her own, staring, staring forever staring.

Like hers would have if she had died.

And then, a part of her did.

Akira saw the signs of death and said, _no, it can't be_! Simultaneously another part of her felt like the rug had been swept out from under her, like her whole world had just stopped rotating. It was quite literally the end of the world.

Akira's mind temporarily took refuge in denial. She clung to her brother's body.

"No...No, Ryuk." She begged, clutching the arm which was as familiar as her own. "Get up...Get up."

An old, dry voice which had seen so many tragedies, but was still torn by each and every one, gave a little exclamation. He stepped around the vomit, which was already disappearing in the rain, and walked slowly forward.

"No, don't leave me alone." She shook her head, gently at first and then violently until her whole body was writhing in denial. "_No, Ryuk, I don't want to be alone! You can't be dead_!"

She was shrieking and crying, a lost and hopeless child despairing in the cold rain which still hammered down upon their small body like so many rocks. That heavy, heavy rain made it feel like even the heavens had forsaken her.

"Child," a dry, sorrowful voice said. Akira froze, the contrast between her frozen state and her previous one, violent with sorrow, sharp and clear. "I am sorry but he is gone."

The girl whirled around sharply in a lightning movement, then froze there, like two photos had been lined up beside each other. The old man was struck by two things: the large, golden eyes which stared into him and through him glassily, as if there were someone behind him she were looking at, and their expression.

It was like someone had taken the greatest of sorrows and the most wretched of desperation and combined them, frozen them, and placed them behind the eyes of the little girl.

"He's not," she said softly, her voice containing no denial belying her words.

"Will you come with me? I would like to try and help you," offered that old man, holding out a hand. He would try and convince her of the boy's death when she was at least physically safe and well.

She smiled as she reached up. The smile sent a spike of ice through his heart, at first a sharp cold sensation which made him want to turn away and never see this girl again. But then the ice melted, only leaving a great sorrow. Her hand trembled. She watched it tremble then let it fall. That smile was still on her face, but now she was looking at the ground, so it had less effect. "My body is broken."

"I will help you," said the man as he bent down, picked the little girl up like she were a babe. She neither helped nor hindered, as if she were a rag doll in his arms.

"My body was broken when that gang beat me up," she told him as he carried her away, thinking how he was going to call the police and get them to pick up the body when he had made sure the girl was safe.

Her statement made him pause. He looked back at the body, which had clearly been beaten up. He looked at the girl. "What did you say your name was?"

She smiled again. "What's yours?"

"You can call me Watari."

"And you can call me Ryuk."

That part of her mind which saw the death and wept grew so overcome by despair that it had simply shut down, leaving just denial. And that denial had turned things around. Ryuk could not be dead, therefore, she was Ryuk. Akira was a name which sounded vaguely familiar, but only vaguely. There was the image of a dead body, of golden staring eyes, but they were only vaguely familiar, vaguely haunting.

She became Ryuk.

*****

Light woke up to his alarm, though he didn't wake up. It seemed earlier than usual, as he was more tired than normal when waking...

"Urgh...I hate waking up."

_That_ woke him up. His eyes opened fully. In his peripheral vision he could see Ryuk shaking with hyuks. He propped himself up on his elbow, looked at his bedroom floor.

"Something is odd about this picture," he began, quite calmly. "It may _just be_ that a girl is sleeping on my bedroom floor."

"Would you rather I slept in your bed?"

He chose to ignore this. "Akira, just what are you doing here?" She stood and turned off his alarm. This drew his attention to the time. "No wonder I feel so tired...This is an hour earlier than I normally wake up."

"I needed to wake up early so I could get home in time to not raise make my parents suspicious," she told him as she picked up the pillow and sleeping bag she had brought. "You don't mind if I keep these here, do you?"

"Yes."

"Good. I'll just leave them under your bed." She slipped them there ignoring the fact that he was still in the aforementioned bed. "Don't worry, I'll be so sneaky, your parents won't hear a thing."

"...Which bring us back to the fact that you were sleeping on my floor," Light pointed out.

"Yeah, I was," she agreed, not seeming to find anything odd about it as she stepped closer to Ryuk. "Hey, Ryuk, did you see where I put that apple I brought over?"

"..."

"You ate it, didn't you?"

"...Maybe."

Instead of getting angry she just laughed. "Which shows me not to trust you with my apples."

"Why?" interceded Light, seeing that the conversation had taken a trip in the opposite direction he wanted I to take.

"Uh...Maybe because he would eat it?" she told him, looking at him oddly. "Kind of stupid for a genius, aren't you?"

"No, I mean why are you sleeping on my floor?"

"Because I was grounded."

"...And just _how_ does that answer my question?"

"If I'm grounded, I can't come and see you and Ryuk. And he can't come to see me all the time, since he has to haunt you. That means that I'll get sick sometimes. I might get away with this a few times but after a while my parents would notice something. I don't want that kind of attention," Akira explained as she picked up a little bag she had brought. "And I don't think _you_ do, either, in case we could be linked together somehow. This way I soak up...I guess you could call them Death Note rays or what ever, and my parents don't lock me in, which they've threatened to do many times before."

"I guess that makes some sense," reluctantly admitted Light. _Especially the part about them locking her up...Hell, at this point _I_ kind of want to lock her up_. "But you could have asked-"

"Can I sleep in your room at night?"

"I mean _before_ you actually do it."

"You were sleeping. Anyway, I'd better get going," Akira said as she strode towards to window. "See you at school, Light, Ryuk. And you owe me an apple!" She slid out the window, holding onto the ledge with her hands, shuffling over until she reached the drainage pipe, sliding down that, and running off.

In Light's bedroom, Ryuk looked at the bemused Light. "I think she was talking to you about the apple."

*****

The funeral for the boy was a few days after he had been found. Watari had paid for the whole thing. In the days before the funeral, Akira was sent to a local foster home. She was said to be called 'Kyomi', as she would call herself nothing else but Ryuk.

There had been some disturbances by the time of the funeral. The first had been the day after she arrived. Watari arrived with the intention of getting the girl to undergo an IQ test, as he did with all the foster children he could, to see which minds would be brilliant enough to justify him placing them in his foster home. In all honesty, he would have loved to do so with every child he could find, but instead he chose only the most talented of lost youngsters, as they were normally the ones who had the most expenses, expenses which a normal foster family could not pay. He arrived to find the foster mother berating the girl.

"You do _not_ take all the apples," she told the girl.

"But I'm hungry," the girl had replied with lowered eyes, which held not a shred of deference, only that glassy, wide-eyed, frozen look of exquisite sorrow.

"That doesn't matter. I would have made something for you."

"I wanted apples," she affirmed.

"Excuse me," Watari made his presence known with the polite words. He took Akira away and put her on his laptop to do the IQ test, first making sure she knew how to use it. He left her alone and went to speak to the foster mother about Akira.

"She's disruptive," fumed the woman. "And quite selfish. And there's just something about her which scares the other children."

"I'm sure it's just a stage," assured Watari.

"It could be," admitted the foster mother, sighing wearily. "But if continues or worsens then you're going to have to find somewhere else for her. I wish I could help more...But you know me, I don't know how to deal with the troubled ones!"

"She's troubled alright," muttered Watari quietly. "Just in case I think I'll try to find another place for her, one which can deal with those like her."

The foster mother looked relieved. "That's good." She was a caring woman at heart, hardened by a troubled life.

A short while later Akira appeared at the door

"If there's a problem you find difficult, I'm afraid no-one is allowed to help you," began the old man when she said nothing. The girl looked at him and smiled that disturbing smile.

"I'm finished."

"...I see," Watari noted in a neutral tone but with a saddened heart. With almost ever child who completed the test that fast, they either skipped over some answers or answered at random. "Thank you for taking the time."

He spoke with her for a little while longer, or tried to, Akira not being the most responsive of children. He then left.

The day after that Akira got worse.

"Hey, Kyomi," another of the foster children called. "Pass the-"

"Get it yourself," Akira told him cheerfully. "And my name is Ryuk."

"Don't be stupid, your name's Kyomi- AH!" He began to cry. The foster mother rushed into the room.

"What's wrong!" she exclaimed. She looked a the boy, who held out his hand. She looked at Akira. "Young lady, explain yourself!"

"What's there to explain?" she asked simply. "He was annoying me so I stabbed him with a fork."

The foster mother was speechless for a moment. She then took the little injured boy out of the room and saw to him first before getting immediately on the phone to Watari.

"That girl is a menace!" she exclaimed. She told him of the incident. "If this gets any worse then there is no way I can take care of her."

The day before the funeral, it got worse.

The other foster children had been gathering their courage to confront the girl all night. They were like witch-hunters of the medieval age, terrified of what the so-called witch would do to them but willing to risk much to try and get rid of her. They found her hiding in the dark, like a nocturnal predator hiding from the light.

"Hey, Kyomi, come out here," one said bravely.

"My name is Ryuk," said the little girl.

"It's Kyomi!"

"Mum says it is!" joined in another child.

"Kyomi! Kyomi! Kyomi!" the small group chanted together, like the name which Akira had come to hate was a mantra to ensure their safety.

"Stop calling me that," ordered the voice, a hint of emotion in it for the first time since Ryuk's death.

"Kyomi! Kyomi! Kyomi!"

"I said stop calling me that! My name is Ryuk!" she asserted louder, ignoring the stray thought that her last sentence seemed somehow incorrect.

"Kyomi! Kyomi! Kyomi!"

"Come out and play, _Kyomi_," mocked the little boy who she had stabbed with the fork the previous day. "Hey, _Kyomi_, if I throw an apple will you chase after it?"

"_My name is Ryuk!"_ screamed the girl and it was the last straw. She rushed out, seizing the boy by the front of his shirt and pushing him to the ground. The other children began to scream at her fury as she, baring her teeth like an enraged lioness, began beating the boy's head against the floor with each word. "_Ryuk! Ryuk Ryuk Ryuk Ryuk Ryuk_-"

"What is going on here?!" exclaimed the foster mother as she rushed in. Akira let go of the boy and, gasping, stood while everyone froze, silent. Then the boy on the ground began to cry. A few others joined in. Everyone began frantically babbling to make their side known. Akira, however, did nothing except stand ready to face her fate.

Tomorrow was the day of the funeral.

Akira had stayed in the little shadowy corner she had taken to hiding in until Watari had arrived. The clothes she had been provided with were all dark so she needed no special clothing for the day. The funeral was a small affair. It was really only for Akira's benefit. Watari had, many times, wished there had been more he could do for a child. Seeing that there had been something he could do for this one, he did it. The funeral had been no more than he would do for any other child.

But there was something more he could do for this one.

"Young lady, you do know where we are going?" he began when they got into the limousine.

"A funeral," she replied, not looking at him as she crawled in after him.

"That's right, a funeral. Do you know who's?"

Akira stayed silent. She made no movement nor gesture that showed she heard him. They stayed silent together for a while before Watari began chatting amiably of paltry things like the traffic and the different colours of the cars outside. Slowly the girl became more responsive until she began almost talkative.

"Did you know that, years and years ago, they only had black cars?" asked the old man. "Slightly before I can remember...But I remember thinking how odd it was to see a car the colour of a woman's lipstick when I was very young."

"How long ago was that?" asked Akira cheekily. "Were there dinosaurs around then?"

Watari laughed. "No, it was a little after that."

But eventually the tiny oasis inside the limo was broken as they drew up in front of the funeral place. They got out, again the silence like a cloak around them. The cloak followed them as they walked through the doors but there Watari paused and the little girl which had become like his shadow paused too.

"I am going to ask you to do something," the man asked slowly as he crouched until he was on Akira's level. "It may be scary, but it's very, very important that you do it."

Akira looked at him for a moment with her golden eyes still glassy, still looking through him. "Okay."

"Remember Ryuk."

She froze for a moment before trying to laugh it off. "Silly, how can I not remember myself?"

Watari looked at her with sad eyes which robbed her of the mirth she had used like a shield and said, "you know that's not right. You know that Ryuk is someone very, very close to you. He died in a horrible way. You know this but it's made you so sad and you want him to be alive so much that you're using his identity to hide behind. But you can't do this for ever."

"I am Ryuk," she stated in a dead voice.

"No, you're not," the old man told her. "You are a little girl who's been through a lot."

"I am Ryuk," she repeated, but in a quieter voice which trembled with uncertainty.

"No. He is." Watari turned around and led her to an empty room.

Empty apart from the open coffin on the other side, a few flowers scattered around it.

For Akira the world began turning once again.

And she hated it.

Numbly she walked to the coffin.

She hated the world.

Each step felt like a thousand.

She hated it all.

The coffin was drawing her closer.

She just wanted it all to go away.

A body was just beginning to be visible.

But she knew it wouldn't.

It wouldn't go away.

She had to face it.

And, just then, she saw Ryuk.

Watari stood and watched as Akira stood, staring at her brother's corpse for a long moment. Then subtle shakes began to make her shoulders quiver, slight enough to be passed off as a shiver. They grew stronger and more pronounced until it became clear that it was either withheld laughter or silent sobs. Small snuffling sounds came from the girl.

Watari bowed his head as Akira let hers fall back and let out a wail. It was a wordless cry or all the smothered grief the girl had been trying to hold back. It went on and on and on, every pent up feeling, everything which had become something demented and deranged which had driven her to try and become her brother, everything was put into that wail.

Finally, just when Watari thought that it would never end, it finished. It was replaced by more of the same like, more of those sad, sad, wails.

They went on and on. Eventually they tapered out. Watari looked up to see the girl curled in the foetal position on the ground next to her brother's coffin. She rasped something, her voice made hoarse by the wails which had seemed to big for her body to contain.

"Pardon?" asked Watari, stepping closer until he was standing next to the curled-up girl.

"I am Akira."

He had nothing to say to that. Pleasantries would be out of place. Melancholic thoughts would seem flat in comparison to her cries. So, for a long while, they stayed in silence. Finally Akira sat up.

"What's going to happen to me now?" she asked in a small, raspy voice.

"What do you want to happen to you now?" replied Watari.

"That lady is going to kick me out, isn't she?"

Watari didn't reply. The foster mother had called him up the day before and told him,in no uncertain terms, the girl was to go before the week was out.

"It's okay. I didn't really want to stay there," Akira continued. "I can just go back to the streets."

"If you really want to do that, then no-one will be able to stop you," conceded Watari matter-of-factly.

She looked at him for the first time, as opposed to through him. "What else can I do?"

"Let me tell you about a place called Whammy's House..."

He told her everything she needed to know, nothing more, nothing less. He didn't tell her that she had gotten one of the highest scores he'd ever seen. That only three others had been able to get anywhere near her score in that amount of time.

And she decided she'd give it a try.

"There is the matter of your name...It must remain a secret to everyone."

"So I can keep calling myself Ryuk?"

"You can." Watari got up, ready to leave, but she asked for a moment more with her dead brother. He granted it, deciding to wait outside.

She turned to Ryuk when she was alone. "Ryuk, I'm scared."

"_Akira? Thank god, I've been looking every-"_

"I don't know what this place is like, but from what I've heard it's going to be pretty good," she murmured, never realising that her brother, but a different from of him than lay peacefully in the coffin in front of her, was speaking.

"_What? What place? Akira, why won't you look at me?"_

"I mean, smart people...Better than dumb ones. But never better than you."

"_Please, look at me, Akira! Why won't you look at me?"_

"I'm going to miss you, Ryuk. Nothing will ever be right without you. I wish you were coming."

"_...You can't see me...Akira! Akira, I'm right here! I am coming!"_

"I wish it was the two of us again."

"_It is the two of us, it will always be the two of us!"_

"I wish you were still here. Then I wouldn't be so sad inside."

"_I'm sad too, Akira. More than you know."_

"You should have heard me. Then you would know how sad I was."

"_I heard. I heard you."_

"But you can't hear me any more."

"_I can."_

"And I'm alone."

"_No, you're not."_

"But maybe that will change."

"_It already has changed. You're not alone!"_

"I guess it's time for me to go...But, Ryuk, I will visit you. I'll never forget you, brother."

"_I won't forget you either, Akira."_

"Goodbye, Ryuk," she sniffed before leaving, setting out for her future.

An invisible monster flew out of the funeral home, bellowing cries that nobody but itself could hear, cries which matched those which had come form the mouth of a little human girl just a short while ago. There and then, Ryuk discovered that Shinigami could not cry.

No matter how much they felt like doing so.

Not even a little.


	9. Whammy's House

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of it's associated fictional characters or locations.

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Chapter Nine**

**Whammy's House**

Akira walked into Light's first class, rushing up to him.

"Hey, Light. Hey, Ryuk," she said cheerfully. She had put up her hair, the long strands up in a ponytail which swung as she walked. "What do you think of my hair? Better up or down?"

"What do you think you're doing," muttered Light in a pleasant tone which belied his words.

"Well, I always have it down so I wanted to try it up. It's getting kind of annoying, though-"

"That isn't what I mean," stated Light. "You can't just walk up and start talking to us like this. And you _definitely_ can't talk to Ryuk like that. Is this even your class?"

"...No, but I-"

"Then maybe you should go to your own before you get in trouble," Light told her, his words clearer than the others to make sure anyone listening would know what he was saying.

Akira sighed. "Yeah...I guess...My dad's teaching my class, so you're probably right. I guess I'll catch you later, Light. Ryuk, you still owe me that apple!" She turned around and bounded out of the room, pulling the hair tie out as she did so.

Light looked down at his work as more people filed into the room. He had noticed something which had only been clear when Akira's thick black-blue hair was shifted off of her ears. Akira had a dangling earring with a little heart on the end of it.

Just like Ryuk's.

*****

Akira's first piece of jewellery had been a gift from their parents. Akira knew nothing about them, couldn't remember them, couldn't remember Ryuk ever talking about them. She and Ryuk had owned the earrings for as long as she could remember. Ryuk had said that it had been given to her at birth but he had held onto it for her. She had insisted he have one. They pierced their ears for each other, Akira's on the right, Ryuk's on the left.

When Ryuk's body had been prepared for Akira, the earring had been removed. The funeral director presumed it lost when he was unable to track it down. He would never have guessed that an invisible monster had taken it as his own, and that it had ceased to become visible to purely human eyes when that same monster had put it on.

*****

Akira sat in Mythology, bored out of her mind. She absent-mindedly played with the hair tie in her hands.

"Hey, Akira," mumbled a voice beside her. She jumped a little and turned around in delight.

"Ryuk," she exclaimed. A large portion of the class looked as her. She ignored them.

"Light was getting boring so I decided to come and hang out with you."

"Good. Things were getting boring here too," grinned Akira as she turned back to the front of the class.

"Oh, and Light told me to tell you not to talk to me in front of people."

She looked at him. "Do you mind me talking to you in front of people?"

"Of course not," he answered instantly.

"Then who cares what anyone else thinks?"

"Hyuk, true."

"And you still owe me that apple."

"What apple?"

"The apple you stole."

"What apple? I'm not sure what you mean."

"_Ryuk_-"

"Excuse me, is there a problem?" asked her father. By this time the whole class had begun to stare at her.

Akira smiled. "No."

"Then kindly save chatting until you're out of class," ordered the man, either not noticing or ignoring the fact that nobody sat beside Akira.

"Okay," replied the younger girl. Her father sent her a disapproving look for her informality but Akira ignored it. She took out her pen and wrote something down.

_Let's talk later_.

Ryuk read it and said, "sure."

There were a few moments filled with the sound of Akira's father's voice and the scratching of pens.

Then Ryuk briefly interrupted it. "And I don't owe you an apple."

Seeing as her father kept shooting her wary glances, she kept silent.

*****

Whammy's house had been a haven. When Watari had first taken her there, she had been scared. Extraordinarily scared, in fact. She had never been to school before and was terrified. Watari escorted her inside.

The gates were lovely. She had never seen anything like them. She walked inside, through the gardens, Watari's hand on her shoulder making her that little bit less afraid. The children played on the gardens. Sometimes they would look at Akira curiously but, on the most part, they kept to themselves.

"There are a lot of people here," pointed out the little Akira nervously.

"Not as many as I would like," replied the older man. He led her to a bedroom. "This will be your room."

She walked inside, looking around at the drawers and the bed. Everything was in neutral shades. It was a clean space. For a moment it didn't look like much to Akira. "What do you mean by 'my' room," she asked absent-mindedly.

"I mean it's yours."

She looked back at him in surprise, golden eyes wide and hair seeming black in the shade. "M...My room?" She looked around the room with new eyes. Everything had seemed to take on a sheen of glamour. Akira walked to the bed and, with a quivering hand, touched the blanket reverently. "I've never owned a room before," she murmured, almost unaware of Watari's presence.

"I'm glad you like it," smiled Watari. It faded a little with his next words. "I'm afraid I can't stay to see you get settled in."

Akira whirled around. "Why not?"

"I have business to attend to."

"But...What do I..."

"As long as you don't hurt yourself or anyone else, anything you like. You can stay here and get used to the room. You can go into the garden and introduce yourself to some people. You can walk around. There should be a map of the place in the top drawer so, if you get hungry or have any questions, just go to the kitchens or front office and they'll take care of you."

Akira blinked, processing this. "I...Guess that's...Fine."

"I wish I could stay," lamented the older man. "But you'll be safe here. In about a week your lessons will start."

"Lessons!?"

"Don't look so alarmed. You're very intelligent, so you should be fine."

"I'm...intelligent?" asked Akira, a little stunned.

"Very." He seemed amused. "I'm sorry, but I really must get going." He smiled. "It was a pleasure meeting you and I will be sure to catch up with you some time."

"Okay," Akira replied, in a state of shock over everything which had been happening. She wondered why, despite the choice of words, they sounded like a goodbye.

Watari felt sad as he walked away. He was always so busy...He doubted he would have time to check up on the little girl. He would simply have to trust in his hand-picked staff and-

"Wait!" a small voice cried. He turned around in surprise. Akira was standing in her doorway, an alarmed expression on her face. Watari was worried she would start begging for him to stay. Instead she simply looked at him squarely and said, "thank you."

And there was nothing to say to that but, "you're very welcome."

It was years until they spoke again.

*****

"Sorry about that," Akira threw over her shoulder as she strode down the busy hallway to her next class. She ignored the odd looks she was getting. "But that's my dad and things are rocky enough at home without giving him even more reason to yell at me."

"Yeah, you said you were grounded. Why was that?"

"Mum found the Sake," explained Akira. "Wasn't too happy about it."

"No, I guess she wouldn't be."

She walked into her next class, still chatting amiably to what was, from everyone else's point of view, thin air. A girl in the front row looked at her especially oddly. "Um...Are you talking to me?"

"Nope," replied Akira cheerfully as she made to stride past her.

"Then who?"

"A friend."

"...Yeah, I think there is medication for 'friend's' like that," the girl sneered a little as she said the words. She was one of the richer students and the expressions fitted well on her face, like it had been there many times before.

"Yeah?" Akira cocked her head. "And, of course, _you_ would know a lot about medication?"

The girl glared at her. "My dad's a doctor, so _yeah_, I would."

"Ah. Nothing like career benefits for the family," the blue-haired girl grinned.

"Maybe I should ask him to help you out," the girl smiled innocently and widened her eyes in a mockery of sincerity. "Since you don't actually have any _real_ parents to pay for them, you probably couldn't afford it."

It was a cruel blow for Akira and the girl knew it.

It was times like that that Akira wished that most of the student body did not know she was adopted.

"Do the world a favour," snapped the younger girl. "Go die in a hole." Akira then continued to her seat. The teacher was walking in, apologising for being late.

"Psycho," muttered the girl as Akira walked away. Akira took her seat in a state of irritation.

"Trumped-up rich girl," she fumed to Ryuk. "Who does she think she is?"

"Probably a trumped-up rich kid," supplied Ryuk.

"Yeah, obviously."

"Okay, time for you to hand your reports in," the teacher announced. "Hand them to the front." Akira got out hers, having actually done the work for a change. A hand popped up.

"Sir, I handed mine in yesterday," announced the girl who had been teasing Akira.

"Yes, I remember, Takada."

"Takada..." repeated Akira, a look of distaste altering her expression. "As in, Kyomi Takada?"

"You know her?"

"I've heard of her," replied Akira. "She's this supposed ice-queen, rejecting everyone who asks her out. She probably does it because she's too snobby to accept them."

"Yeah?" Ryuk replied, but it didn't really matter what he said at this point. He provided a receptacle for Akira to vent into.

"Kyomi...I hate that name."

"Why is that?"

She glanced at him, then looked away. "I just do."

_Kyomi, Kyomi, Kyomi._

"I just _really_ do."

She had no desire to explain that the name dragged her into the past, made her remember that awful, awful time.

It seemed bright so she put her sunglasses on.

*****

Akira had not ventured out of her room for the first few days. She stayed there and spoke to her brother, trying to pretend he was right there listening and answering, never knowing that, sometimes, he was.

"Ryuk, I want to go outside but it's so bright out there. And I'm scared of the light. It's so comforting here in the dark."

"_I know. It didn't matter what the weather was, it was always dark where we lived, wasn't it?And it was always brighter on the outside, even if it was raining. Like it was that day..."_

"I guess it's because it's so much like home."

"_Cleaner, though."_

"But cleaner."

They shared a smile.

"I want to go outside and play with the other kids. I want to run and jump like they do. But it's so light."

"_Don't let it stop you."_

"I guess I'll just wait here until the sun sets and it's time to eat. No-one will be playing but maybe I can go talk to someone."

"_Yes, do that."_

"Actually...I may just stay here, Ryuk. After all, I'm not that hungry."

"_If you say so, Akira, if you say so."_

Then something happened. The next day she was sitting alone in her room with the blinds closed, hugging herself and mumbling to Ryuk, when the door burst open. A flood of light made her wince.

"Whoa," a young voice commented. "Vampire much?"

Akira looked over her arms, which she had thrown in front of the eyes, to see a boy with red hair looking at her.

"Dark in here, isn't it?" he asked as he strode into the room, completely without invitation, and opened the blinds. She protested. He closed them again. "What ever. Listen, my video game's broken so, if it's okay with you, I'm just going to hang around till they get me a new one."

"Uh..."

"I mean," he continued as he sat nonchalantly on her bed. She watched as he wrinkled the covers and felt a little twinge of protest. "I could probably fix it, but this way they'll get me a newer version. So, are you new?"

"...Huh?"

"Are you new?" he repeated, slower this time, as if she were hard of hearing.

"I...Uh..." Akira stuttered. She had never really spoken the children before. Adults she was used to speaking to as those were the ones she had tried to cheat into buying things for her. But she and Ryuk had steered clear of the other homeless children, and any other kind were too afraid of them to come near. It was odd. The boy was still waiting for her answer so she managed to say, "I s-suppose."

"Yeah, I thought so. Well, my name's Matt. And you are?"

She looked at him for a moment, then opened her mouth to say 'Akira'. He held out a hand.

"I should probably remind you of the whole alias thing."

"Yeah...Thanks," she mumbled quickly remembering. "My name is..." She could do it. She could do it. She wasn't denying his death any more. She was honouring his memory. "Ryuk."

"Huh. Funny name for a girl. But I guess you have your reasons for it. Nice to meet you, Ryuk."

"Yeah, you too, Matt," she murmured shyly.

He began to chat of video games. She had no clue what he was saying half of the time, as she had never played any kind of video game before, but after a while got used to the sound of his voice and the sensation of speaking to someone who was also a child. She began to ask him some questions, shyly at first, then quickly with greater confidence, as shyness was unusual to her nature. Matt was astounded by her ignorance in the field and decided to take on the role of her mentor in the art of video games. He decided that it would be necessary to get the old console fixed as soon as possible so he could tutor her on it and get the new one anyway, as the old would no longer be his. He asked her to come to his room and help him with it so they could start right away.

"G-go?" asked Akira nervously. "Outside? It's kind of...bright."

"You'll be fine. Come on." Matt stood in her doorway, waiting. She slowly stood and followed him.

The place was as well-tended and beautiful as she remembered it. Everything was clean and the architecture was vaguely medieval English. She tried to commit the halls to memory and felt confidant she could find her own way back if need be.

"I said it was bright," muttered Akira as she squinted after the boy. He stopped at a door.

"Come on in. I live here with another guy," Matt told her as he opened the door

Akira froze. "Another guy?"

"Yeah...Sorry, I probably should have told you. We're allowed to share a room. Come inside and meet him." He looked apologetic and hopeful at the same time. Akira took a deep breath and steadied herself as she stepped closer until she was in the doorway.

The room was quite like her own, only there were two of everything. One side of the room was cluttered with video games. The other was somewhere between messy and neat, with crumpled bed covers and sweet wrappers everywhere.

"Hey, Mello. Say hi to Ryuk. She's new," Matt called out cheerfully. Akira looked at the boy who lay back on the bed, eating something. She couldn't really see that much of him. Only that his legs were clad in something black.

"Hey," Mello grunted without looking around, his voice deeper than Akira expected.

"Aw, come on, Mello, be nice," groaned the red haired boy as he stepped past Akira into the room. He snuck over to Mello's bed silently and swiped something from him. From the doorway Akira saw that it was a chocolate bar.

"Hey!" exclaimed the outraged boy on the bed. "Matt!" He tried to get it back by reaching up but Matt lifted the chocolate too high for him tauntingly.

"Nuh-uh, you're not getting it back till you be nice," laughed Matt as he jerked the chocolate away, stepping backwards. Mello let out a groan which sounded like a cross between a wordless growl of frustration and Matt's name drawn out longer than it was supposed to have been and sat up, scowling. Akira saw him for the first time. He was clad in tight-looking faded jeans and a black T shirt. On his wrist was a bracelet with a cross hanging from it. "Say 'nice to meet you, Ryuk'."

For the first time Mello saw Akira. She felt a little self-concious as he scrutinised her for a moment. He looked at her for a little while, long enough to make a slight blush creep across her cheeks, before looking away and grunting, "hey, Ryuk," in exactly the same tone as before.

Matt looked at Akira. "You aren't going to ignore him, are you?" he teased

"Oh! Uh...Sorry, hi. Nice to meet you," she was prompted into saying.

"What ever," Mello looked at Matt and held out a hand. Matt sighed as he gave him the chocolate.

"You could learn some manners," he hinted. Mello ignored him and went back to lying back on his bed, eating chocolate. Akira watched him, fascinated by his almost effeminate yet still sharp and edgy way of moving, until he lay back again. Matt had moved towards a pile of brightly coloured games and other debris of a game-loving teenager.

"Right...Here it is. I think a wire got disconnected or something," he began as he opened it up with a little screwdriver. "While I check this out, look at that front part. You see all those buttons and stuff?"

Akira made a noise of affirmation.

"Those control the game..." He explained as many of the basics of video games he could think of while trying to find the little wire which had been disconnected. Eventually she began asking questions of her own. She didn't notice Mello occasionally watching her, like he was trying to figure her out.

Eventually Matt sighed and said, "I've found the wire, but it's one of those annoying little fiddly jobs which I mess up half the time."

"You mean all the time," Mello inserted, his voice bored.

"Which is why I'm going to take this to Near and see if he can do it."

"Don't take it to that big-headed moron!" exclaimed Mello as he sat up angrily. "I'll do it if you're that desperate!"

Matt hugged his video game console to his chest protectively. "No offence, Mello, but I don't want your chocolate-covered fingers anywhere _near_ my console. You'd probably get annoyed and throw it away."

"I would not!"

"You would and you know it," retorted Matt. "Why shouldn't I take it to Near?"

"Because he'll think you're admitting he's smarter than you!"

"He _is_ smarter than me. And so are you. I don't have a problem with that."

Mello watched Matt for a moment, seeming to be groping for something to say that would make Matt not go to Near. His eyes slid to Akira, who was watching the exchange silently. He gave up, sliding back onto the bed. "What ever."

"Come on, Ryuk," Matt beckoned to her as he walked out of the room. She followed him.

"How come Mello didn't want you to go to Near?" she inquired as they strode down the neat halls, her hands shading her eyes from the sun.

"Mello doesn't like Near, probably because Near is first in line."

"To do what?"

This stopped him. He looked around in surprise. "You don't know?"

"No," she replied in the negative.

"To succeed L." He began walking again as he explained who L was and the function of the place. He finished with, "Whammy's House is really only supposed to be for people who can succeed L but Watari is a big softy when it comes to children and kind of fosters any talented homeless kids he can. There's a really good artist around here somewhere..."

"And you all just grow up here?" asked Akira as she processed this.

"Unless someone adopts you. Watari finds couples he think will be suited to certain children and pairs them up. If it doesn't work then nothing changes, but if the couple and kid go like each other, the kid is adopted." Matt stopped in front of a door and knocked. "Hey, Near. Mind if I come in?"

"Enter," a monotone voice permitted.

Matt opened the door and stepped inside. "Near, this is Ryuk. Ryuk, Near."

"Hi," Akira greeted as she stepped inside. The room was basically the same as hers apart from the huge card castle in the middle. It was less a card castle than a card _fort_. "Nice card castle."

"I know," replied a soft, almost vulnerable sounding voice with no hint of boasting.

Akira followed Matt as he edged carefully around the castle. Slowly a small boy who seemed to be all white came into view. "Near, would you mind taking a look at this console for me? I want to fix it up for Ryuk. I know where the disconnected wire is but it's one of those tiny fiddly ones which I always mess up. Your fingers are more delicate than mine so I was hoping you'd be okay with fixing it."

Near examined the card he was holding, not even looking at them. His hair was a shade of white which Akira could only think of as pure. "I will do it."

"Thanks, Near," Matt thanked the smaller boy cheerfully. "Is it okay if we just wait here or-"

"I would like if you left now."

"Okay. That's cool," Matt grinned, not the least bit offended. "We'll catch you later."

Near said nothing more besides, "be careful of my castle."

Akira mumbled a vague goodbye before Matt shut the door behind them.

"Don't take Near personally. He's not a people person."

"Yeah, I gathered."

"And now you've met the three top people in the heir line-up," stated Matt, looking at Akira.

"You three are the smartest?" asked Akira, surprised.

"Surprised?"

"A...A little," she admitted, slightly worried about offending him so she explained. "You seem way too happy and light-hearted to be really smart. No offence."

"None taken."

"And Mello seems kind of...Rough, I guess. But not in a...rough...way."

"That actually makes more sense than it should."

"And Near's kind of young, isn't he?"

"Nah, he just looks like that. Hey, have you got your lessons planned out yet?" They began to talk of lessons, him telling her about his and she listening and asking questions. That night, as an invisible guardian angel with a heart-shaped earring watched over her in her sleep, Akira slept feeling, for the first time since her brother's death, somewhere near happiness.

*****

Akira blinked from behind her sunglasses as Kyomi stood up with a few other students who were sitting in the front rows to deliver the reports to the teacher. A wickedly mischievous grin spread her lips and she let out a little snicker.

"Someone's thinking evil thoughts," Ryuk hyuked.

"Someone's _always_ thinking evil thoughts. But this someone would also like to know if a certain other someone would be happy acting out on these evil thoughts."

Ryuk grinned a little wider. "Do you really need to ask?"

Akira told him her plan.

"You're mean...I like it!" the Shinigami praised her before drifting away towards the front of the class.

Akira began to snicker softly as Ryuk drifted towards where the unsuspecting Kyomi Takada waited at the front of the class. Her laughs began to become a little louder as he drifted closer.

And she burst out laughing, along with the entire class, when Ryuk yanked the girl's skirt down. As Kyomi blushed madly, dropped all the reports, and snatched at her skirt, Ryuk drifted back towards Akira.

"Humans are funny about clothing," he told her.

Akira would have replied but she was too busy laughing as Kyomi shot her a furious look, suspecting that Akira had something to do with it. But she could prove nothing.

Akira was still giggling when she said, to Ryuk, "shall we mess with some people?"

Ryuk hyuked. "Will it be entertaining?"

She looked at him. "Oh yeah."

"Then count me in."

**Author's Note-**

**As always, reviews are appreciated...**

**And beware of grandma's evil cats...**

**And, to give credit where it is due, thanks to Yami Yugi Alexander 4rth for coming up with the original idea and adding more to it along the way.**

**Peace and Love,**

**-XOX, Pangie**


	10. In The Making of Mischief

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of it's associated fictional characters or locations.

**The Shinigami's Sister**

**Chapter Ten**

**In The Making of Mischief**

Kyomi had pulled up her skirt and returned to her seat, blushing. She had been followed by a shower of comments such as "keep it on!" and "nice undies", the latter of which Akira had to agree on.

After all, who could have guessed that the respectable and aloof Kyomi Takada wore red and white candy-can striped underwear?

She sniggered a little more as she said, to Ryuk, "I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a candy cane again without laughing."

"I hear ya," agreed Ryuk.

The teacher had to ask for silence a few times and he eventually got it. He went on with the lesson. He turned back to the black board and wrote some notes up. Akira glanced at them. "Come on," she muttered discontentedly. "I _know_ this. It's boring."

"Don't I know it," replied Ryuk, his voice bored. "Maybe we should shake things up again?"

"I'm liking this partnership." Akira watched for a few moments, thinking. "Okay, I have an idea."

*****

Matt's friendship was not a one-day thing. The next day he came for her, this time telling her he was taking her out. Apparently he decided that she needed sunglasses. She did not disagree with the assumption, as she had seen the need for them the previous day. They were stopped on the way out and told that, since Akira had only arrived the previous day, it would probably be best if she stayed in the compound. But Matt managed to talk his way through and, the next thing Akira knew, she was outside again.

The streets here were cleaner. She and Ryuk had always divided places into 'light' and 'dark', the clean, bright streets where he had, ironically enough, been killed, called 'light' and then dark, rubbish- filled slums called 'dark'. This new place seemed to be an odd mixture of both. There were the expensive-looking shops mixed with dodgier-looking ones. It intrigued Akira to no end.

"So, sunglasses," Matt began. "Hmm...We could probably get them anywhere. Do you mind if we go to the electronics store first? I was given a couple hundred to replace that console I'm giving to you and it's burning a hole through my pocket."

"Okay," agreed Akira. They walked to the nearest one, passing a sweets store on the way. Akira glanced in absent-mindedly, then did a double take. "Isn't that Mello?"

Matt backtracked and looked inside. Sure enough, it was Mello, buying a big bag of something. "Three guesses what he's buying," muttered Matt.

Akira hadn't really seen enough of him to clue into the habit Matt was talking about. "Uh...Sweets?"

"Hey, Mello," called out Matt as Mello finished paying for whatever he had bought. The blonde boy looked around and scowled. "Nice to see you too."

Mello walked up to them. "What are yo two doing here? _Her_ especially," Mello glanced at Akira to show who 'her' referred to.

"What do you mean?" asked Akira, a little hurt.

"I mean...No offence or anything...It's just...Uh..." Mello stuttered a little and Akira realised that he hadn't meant any offence. His brash nature could make anything sound like an insult.

"Me and Ryuk needed to buy some stuff," explained Matt.

"They let you out?" Mello asked Akira, sounding just a little less harsh than normal.

"Why wouldn't they?" replied Akira, frowning a little.

"They encourage you to stay in Whammy's House for the first few weeks," Matt interceded, seeing Mello get the same deer-caught-in-the-headlights look he seemed to obtain whenever he seemed to accidentally insult Akira. "But she needed sunglasses and I need a game console so they let us out. By the way, would you show Ryuk what you have in your bag? Show her your dirty little secret."

Mello cuffed Matt around the head. "Don't be stupid. It's not a secret."

"I didn't hear you deny anything about it being dirty-" Matt's sentence was interrupted when he ducked from Mello's next blow.

Mello turned to Akira an opened his bag. "It's just chocolate."

Akira' eyebrows rose a little. "That's a _lot_ of chocolate."

"Yeah, I guess so," replied Mello gruffly as Akira shaded her eyes from the sun.

"We should probably get that stuff now," Matt said, noticing the gesture. "Mello, want to come with?"

"Sure," Mello said nonchalantly, taking out a piece of chocolate and beginning to eat it. They began to walk to the video game store. Mello decided he would wait outside, as no food or drink was allowed in the store, until he'd finished the chocolate he was eating. Matt took Akira and showed her his favourite brand of video game console.

"The latter models are the best, but pretty much anything from this brand will be good," he told her, picking up the latest model. "Come look at some games." He led her to a stack of games.

"Whoa...There are a lot," she murmured, her eyes scanning the rack.

"I've played most of them. The adventure ones with a bunch of different endings and the puzzle ones are the best. Anything else gets boring easily." He described a few games to her. They sounded mildly interesting so Akira decided she'd try them out later. After a while Mello found them.

"And you call me addicted," he began, gesturing towards the video games Matt held.

Matt pointed at the bag of chocolate. "That's because you _are_ addicted."

"Whatever. But, you do remember, we have a class today."

Matt's face went very blank very quickly.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"...Maybe."

"_Matt_."

"Okay, fine, I forgot. But it's in the afternoon, right?"

"Yeah."

Matt cheered up again. "And, so, we have plenty of time. Come on, let's go pay for this."

They did so and walked out of the store. They explored the shops around them for a little while. Akira had bought a black pair of sunglasses when she saw a sight which filled her with awe and wonder.

She was looking at the most awesome pair of goggles in the entire world.

"_Whoa_," she murmured.

"What?" asked Matt, looking around. He spotted the goggles. "Whoa. Those are so freaking cool." Akira picked them up. The lenses were made of a gold colour which was almost the same shade as her eyes and the framework a red which Akira, who didn't even particularly _like_ red, immediately loved. She picked them up and put them on, looking in the mirror. She looked a little odd in them but loved them all the same.

"You want to buy them?" asked Matt eagerly. "'Cause, if you don't, I will."

She looked at him. "I've already got some sunglasses," she said regretfully as she took them off and handed them to him. "You can have them." Akira wasn't particularly generous. But she liked Matt. She had only ever really liked a few people, her brother and Watari, and decided that she wanted to cultivate this friendship. So she gave him the goggles.

Matt took them, looked at Akira's saddened face and handed them back. "Nah. You want them more than I do."

Akira took them back hesitatingly. "Are you sure? I mean, I do already have some sunglasses."

"It's okay. You have them. I'll just borrow them sometimes," Matt grinned.

"You two done?" Mello asked, his voice full of boredom.

"Yeah, I guess," Matt nodded. They paid for the goggles and left. Akira immediately put them on, grinning like a child. Matt grinned a little in reply and said, "either of you want breakfast?"

"I'm okay," Mello said shortly.

"Ryuk?"

"I _am_ kind of hungry."

"I know a place that does breakfast. Let's go there."

They bought breakfast, even Mello, and ate before beginning the journey back to Whammy's House. On the way there they passed a fruit stall.

Akira's gaze happened to fall on a big, juicy, red apple. Her mouth immediately started to water and she was suddenly hungry again. "Matt, do you have any money left over?" she inquired.

"The last of it went towards breakfast," he told her apologetically.

"Okay," conceded Akira. She switched sides so she was on that of the fruit stall. The three of them passed the fruit stall. A little way away from it Mello and Matt heard a big, satisfied-sounding _crunch_.

They looked at Akira, gaping, as she happily munched on a large red apple which she had not possessed before they passed he fruit stall.

"Ryuk?" asked Matt, a curious tone in his voice. "Did you just _steal_ that?"

Akira looked around with a mouth full of apple comically. It was only then that she realised that her actions may not have been interpreted in the same way they would have been by Ryuk. With Ryuk they _had to_ steal. She had no idea what the other two may think about her stealing the apple and she suddenly felt an acute horror at the thought that she may have just sacrificed Matt and Mello's friendship for an apple. She guiltily swallowed.

"How did you _do_ that?" asked Matt in slightly awed tones. Akira felt a relief which was equal to the horror. "I didn't even see you!"

"It's not that hard," Akira told him a little bashfully, unused to speaking of her thievery like they were. "I'm used to it."

"Can you do it again?"

"You probably shouldn't be encouraging her to steal like that," Mello reprimanded, but in a tone which stated that he didn't particularly care whether he did or did not encourage her. In fact, he was looking at her in an interested manner which made her feel even more bashful.

"Uh...yeah, probably," Akira nodded as she bit into the apple. "Anything in particular?"

Matt's face showed a few signs of anxiety for the first time. "Probably not something expensive. I don't want you to get caught."

Akira nodded. "Just let me finish this." A few minutes later she threw away the apple core. She looked around the place, but it was a falsity. She knew exactly what she wanted to take. She kept her eye on a particular store and edged around Matt and Mello. She brushed Mello's arm as she rose her right hand and pointed to a store. "You see that chemist's store?"

"Yeah," said Matt. Mello nodded. Akira was silent. They looked around to her. A mischievous smile was lighting her face. Her left hand was behind her back.

And as Akira took her hand from behind her back Mello realised that his bag of chocolates was suddenly a lot lighter. As Matt burst into laughter Mello looked in his bag, then looked up at the fistful of chocolate in Akira's hand, looking back into the bag, and then back to her.

"B-but..." He stuttered. "I didn't even feel that."

Akira nodded as she gave back the chocolate. "I know. I wouldn't take so much normally because you could easily feel how much had gone."

"You should do it again," chortled Matt. "I don't think I've ever seen that expression on Mello's face before."

"Shut up," Mello muttered sullenly, folding his arms.

"You mean like this?" Akira said as she brushed past Mello and held up a single chocolate.

"Hey!" exclaimed Mello.

Matt laughed and Akira smiled as she gave it back to Mello. "Don't worry. I wouldn't eat it. I don't really like the stuff."

Mello looked at her aghast for a moment. "You serious?"

"Yeah. I like apples better."

"Freak," Mello commented, still feeling a little snarly. He realised what he had said a second later and looked at Akira quickly, but she was laughing.

"A freak who can steal your chocolate," she grinned.

Matt interrupted them to point out, "hey, there's Whammy's. Want to run the last part?"

"No," Mello said.

"Yes," Akira said.

"Come on, Ryuk," urged Matt before he and Akira began running the rest of the way.

Akira beat him there.

*****

Akira got bored easily. So, one day, when she was bored she had obtained a few recordings of the principle's voice and cut and pasted them so it said certain things. She had always meant to do something with them but had never been able to. So she told Ryuk where to find the disk and sent him after it, telling him what to do with it.

Ryuk flew to Akira's place faster than normal and found the disc amongst Akira's other discs. He slipped it into a portable disc-player, like Akira had told him to. Ryuk then flew back to the school, keeping low to the ground this time and moving through trees where possible so no-one saw a disc floating along by itself. When he arrived at the school, only a quarter of an hour after he left, he slipped into the empty principle's office (Akira had told him the man was in a meeting somewhere) and plugged the disc-player into the PA system.

Akira smirked as the PA came on.

The tone was jerky and it could have been made better. It was clear that a bunch of words had randomly been slung together and it was clearly not the principle speaking, but, in a way, that made it all the funnier.

"Can...I...have...everyone...attention...please?" asked the voice. A few students were frowning at the jumbled words. "I...Would...Like...To...Announce...A...Holiday." It paused, like Akira had made it. She stood up.

The teacher, who was looking extremely confused and a little frazzled, snapped, "you! Sit down!"

Akira blinked innocently. "But, sir, the principle said it was a holiday."

"Yeah!" agreed some other students, standing up.

"I...want you all to sit down," the teacher told them uncertainly, not seeming to know what to do.

"But the _principle_ said so," pointed out Akira. And that was all that was needed to get the ball rolling. With no regard to what the teacher said, students began filing out, laughing. The teacher tried to stop them at first but it was too much for one man to do.

And _that_ got a bigger ball rolling.

Seeing one classroom leave, other classes began to do the same. Soon most of the school had left, but they were all milling around the school grounds, not for any other reason than for the fact that the announcement was not yet finished.

"Attention," the principle's voice stated over the PA. Everyone halted and immediately silenced. "Teachers...Are...Going..._Bald_!"

What made everyone burst out laughing was not necessarily the sentence but the fact that, when Akira had made the CD, the principle had not said the necessary words, so she had been forced to record herself shouting out random words in a gruff tone. She had not attempted to hide the fact in the slightest.

"And..." began the principle's voice. Everyone quieted down. "Science...Teacher...are..._ALL MAD SCIENTISTS WHO ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL_!"

Obviously that sentence was Akira's.

"Amen to that!" a few people cheered. But that was not all Akira's handiwork.

"Tomorrow...Is..." continued the voice. "Clothing...free...day."

Akira was happy to say she hadn't had to interfere with that the slightest.

"Mythology...teacher...wearing..._red underpants_!"

Akira did not know if this was true of her foster father and she didn't want to find out.

Ryuk heard a commotion outside the principle's office.

"Uh oh," he muttered, stopping his quiet hyuking, which was in admiration of Akira's handiwork. Ryuk quickly unplugged the disc player and flew out the window. He flew back to Akira's house fast as he could and then flew back, this journey only taking five or so minutes. When he got back the teachers were trying to get the students to go back into class without a lot of luck.

Akira was smoking in a tree, occasionally bursting out into laughter. Ryuk landed beside her. "Oh, hi Ryuk. Good job. You did everything perfectly."

"I hid the disc in your attic. That okay?"

"Yeah. Nobody goes there so it's a good place to hide it."

They sat in silence for a while, looking down upon the rest of the students in the same manner as two Greek gods looking down from Olympus on the mortals.

"What now?" asked Ryuk after a littler while.

Akira put out the stub of her cigarette, smirking. "I do have something in mind, but I'm not sure who to do it to..."

"How about Candy Cane?"

Akira didn't need to ask who he meant by that. "Yes, I think Candy Cane will work perfectly."

*****

Akira's classes were set. She had a lot of basic classes. When she showed them to Matt after his and Mello's afternoon class, he sort of stared for a moment.

"Uh...Ryuk," he had asked. "Have you...It's okay if you haven't, but I just...Have you ever been to school before?"

Akira hesitated before shaking her head.

"Ah. Well..." He seemed to be trying to find the words.

"Sucks to be you," Mello muttered, not really paying attention. He was doing some complex homework

Matt looked at him and exclaimed, "Mello!"

Mello only then realised what he had said. He turned around and said, to Akira, "S-sorry, it's...I mean..."

Akira promptly stole the chocolate he was eating.

"Wh-hey!" exclaimed the blonde-haired boy.

"You've got to admit, Mello, you deserved that," pointed out Matt between chuckles.

Akira grinned as she waved the chocolate above his head. He was lying down on his back, propped up with one elbow. She stood on his bedstead and put a foot on his shoulder, pushing it down, effectively pinning it in place.

"Ow!"

"Come on, Mello," she taunted, waving the chocolate. "Let's see if your arms are long enough to get the chocolate."

While Matt laughed at him Mello tried,in vain, to heave himself up. Matt pointed out that Akira seemed to be stronger than him.

"That's right," smiled Akira. "I am. Admit that I'm stronger than you and I'll let you go."

"But that's so stupid!"

"Your point being?"

"Fine, you're stronger than me." She jumped off him. "What about the chocolate?"

Akira held it out to Matt. "You want it?"

He took it and ate it. "Thanks."

Mello gaped at them for a moment before saying, "you guys suck," and going back to his homework. Akira was much more comfortable with stealing Mello's chocolate and annoying him. It got too awkward between them if she didn't. And, truth tell, Mello felt the same.

Mello paused. "Hey, Matt, don't you have homework too?"

"..."

"...You know you're going to fail if you keep not doing it."

He sighed. "Fine." He began to get out his books with a melancholic air. "Hey, Ryuk?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry about not having gone to school or anything. You're here so you're obviously smart. You'll pick it up quickly and catch up fast."

She smiled. "Thanks, Matt."

"Speaking of picking stuff up, do you want to go see if Near's finished with your console yet?"

"Sure," she said as she stepped towards the door.

"You remember the way?"

"Yeah."

"Cool, thanks."

"I'll be back soon," Akira told them. She found her way through the winding corridors. She made a few wrong turns at first but eventually found her way. She knocked on the door she presumed to be the right one. "Hello? Is this Near's room?"

"Yes," came the childish monotone.

"This is Ryuk. Matt sent me to see if the console is fixed," she said through the door, feeling an edge of nervousness. Something about the boy was a little inhuman and robotic. It made her feel just a little scared. "Can I come in?"

"Yes," the voice said again.

She opened the door cautiously, remembering the card castle from the previous day. But there was nothing like that inside. Instead she saw an intricately made Lego town. "Whoa. Impressive."

Near ignored this. "I am fixing it now," he told her and she saw this to be true.

"So you'll be done soon?" she inquired a little timidly.

"Correct."

"In that case I'll just wait here," she told him as she looked for a clear patch of floor and sat down, as the bed and chairs were taken by extensions of the Lego town. Near didn't say anything. Nothing was there to betray if he was annoyed by her presence or pleased by it. She said and watched him for a while and gradually her fear of him melted like snow in the face of sunlight. There was a childish quality about him but it was only surface-deep. Whenever he moved, whenever he created or fixed things with that mechanical precision that she saw him use there and then, it was clear that he was most certainly more than just a child. When he moved the illusion of childishness was gone. This was what had scared her, but, after a while of observing him, she found it less frightening and more intriguing.

After a short while Near said, "may I ask what you are looking at?"

"You," she murmured. Watching Near almost put her into a kind of spell, an enraptured state which made her able to say all of her thoughts. Near had paused and was clearly waiting for her to continue. "It's just...You're kind of interesting. To watch, I mean. You're kind of conflicting. You're childish but also...I don't know. It's like your a fluffy teddy on the outside and a knife on the inside."

He stayed where he was, frozen, for a few more moments, before continuing what he had been doing. He didn't say anything about her comparison but Akira couldn't hep but get the feeling that she had said something right. Near finished with the console and held it out to her.

"Thank you," she smiled. She got up and hesitated at the door. "I'll see you around, okay?"

"Yes," he replied in a monotone without even a shred of emotion. Nevertheless, she left the room feeling more comfortable about Near.

And so an era began.

**Author's Note:**

**I originally meant for all the flashbacks to be in one chapter...But that would be one long chapter. I also meant to put more pranks in here...Any pranks you want Akira to pull on anyone, just send a PM or review.**

**A reminder: reviews are always welcome.**

**Another: beware of grandma's evil cats.**

**Peace and Love,**

**-XOX, Pangie**


	11. Candy Cane

**Disclaimer: I don't own Death note.**

The Shinigami Sister

Chapter Eleven

Candy Cane

Light, very seriously, considered, for a long and blissful moment, writing Akira's name in the Death Note when he heard her handiwork over the PA. Oh, he knew about the consequences, and on the flip side of that, about the potential benefits of having someone with the Shinigami eyes around. Those were the things which put an end to his little fantasy.

But it would have been nice.

It wasn't just that this little stunt was immature and irritating. It was, Light decided as he mulled around the grassy area outside the high school, that it seemed to be a part of a growing cycle of pranks Akira saw fit to pull in order to amuse herself. And Light was worried some day the prank or joke would interfere with his duty as Kira.

A familiar sound roused Light from his musings. Maintaining his pleasant expression, Light turned to where Ryuk's dry laughter danced towards him, and let his eyes fall on the Shinigami as he neared. Surprisingly, Ryuk gave Light a rough grin but kept on his way, winding past Light, through the students. Light didn't allow his composure to change, but wondered what exactly the Shinigami was doing. The only one Ryuk would leave Light's side for was Akira. So where was she?

Akira's tongue gently poked out from between her teeth as she tried to form the figures on the page. However, the letter she was trying to write, at that moment, to start a rebellion, a revolution which all the other letters then followed. They would absolutely _not_ let Akira write them.

"You bastards," spat Akira in frustration s she threw down her pencil and folded her arms.

"Mello is, but what have I done?" asked a hurt Matt, who was, for once, doing his homework. The fact that it involved the writing of a computer code for a video game probably had something to do with it. Matt's teacher was getting creative.

"I was talking about the letters," Akira frowned.

"I think talking to inanimate objets is the first sign of madness," Matt said helpfully.

"No, that would be wearing goggles inside," Mello piped up from where he went through his draw, trying to find where Akira had hidden his chocolate.

Akira tilted up her chin defiantly, not removing the goggles from where they now were, on top of her head. "So says Mister Back-in-Black." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "You know that isn't actually real, right? I don't want to burst your illusion on anything, but dressing like you're going to a funeral isn't going to make aliens start talking to you."

"At least I don't think letters will," sneered Mello. "And, besides, today you're wearing as much black as me."

Akira was silent for a moment, before grinning sweetly. "Found that chocolate yet?"

Mello gave her an evil glare.

"You shouldn't scowl like that. Your face will fall off. And then so will your teeth, because you eat too much chocolate, and _then_ where will you be?" Akira said practically. "No face and no teeth, that's where."

"How am I supposed to _eat_ chocolate if you keep _hiding_ it!"

"And now you have discovered my plan to save your teeth," Akira smiled, even sweeter than before. "Though, the face I'm willing to sacrifice."

Mello stared at her for a moment before turning away. "At least I know how to write."

"Mello!" chided Matt.

"It's not my fault!" exclaimed Akira hotly.

"_No, it's mine_," said a quite, dry, dead voice, unheard by anyone. "_I never thought that you should learn how to write… Did I even know? I can't remember, Akira, and that kind of scares me, because it makes me wonder what else I'm forgetting… But as long as I don't forget you, I suppose that's okay_."

"Ryuk?" asked Matt. Akira looked around, starting slightly. Matt had evidentially been trying to get her attention for a while.

"Sorry, what?" she asked. Her mind had just drifted for a moment. She thought, just at the edge of her hearing, no, beyond that, further than the edge, at the very recesses of her mind she had… Maybe she really was going crazy. That would be just _perfect_, on top of everything else.

"I just asked how you're going on maths, geography, history, all the others."

"Easy," Akira snorted. "Geography is kind of obvious, I'm just learning about things I guessed ages ago. History's interesting enough, I suppose, but I really like maths."

"Maths?" asked Matt, his eyebrows shooting up. "You _like_ maths? Maybe you are crazy…"

Akira paused while she considered this. "I like the numbers. I saw the patterns ages ago, and now the numbers give them shape. That's all maths is. Finding the patterns."

Akira hid her smile as she approached Candy Cane, real name, Kyomi, and instead injected a harsh, rough tone into her voice. "Hey, Candy Cane!"

Akira wondered if it was immature to take great pleasure in seeing Kyomi's jaw clench. She then decided it was, but decided she didn't care. Coldly, Kyomi ignored her and the grins from those around her.

"Candy Cane?" called Akira loudly. "Hello? Hello, Candy cane, who wears Candy Cane underwear? Hello? Hey, Candy Cane-"

Finally, as people began to titter, Kyomi turned around, fury in her eyes. "Will you go away?"

Akira thought about this seriously. "No." Kyomi turned away from Akira again, but the younger girl would have none of this. "I know this is your fault."

Kyomi turned around again, but this time she looked confused. "What are you talking about _now_?"

"All of this," Akira cast her gaze around the crowd, all of whom were mulling outside, while she folded her arms. The gesture was hidden by her sunglasses, but their growing group of watchers nevertheless understood the significance. "I know you did this."

"Why," began Kyomi slowly, her voice heavy with disdain. "On _Earth_ would I do something so immature as this? If I was going to do something to get out of class, I would think of something much more creative than _this_. _This_ is just pathetic."

"Not as pathetic as candy cane knickers."

"You…" Kyomi snapped wordlessly, her cheeks a reddish colour. "Are so… Irritating. Why did they even let you into high school? Just because your father felt sorry for you when he saw you couldn't make any friends wherever you were before."

The crowd around them made the "oh!" noise that watching crowds do when a particularly grievous insult had been made. Akira was annoyed that she felt a moment of hurt, but kept it hidden. But Kyomi was playing her game now, and the ice princess was way, way out of her league. "Maybe they looked at you and thought they'd better get in some _real_ talent." With this Akira whirled around and began walking off, ignoring Kyomi's outrage. As she did she let herself be distracted by something Kyomi had said. _Couldn't make any friends_… No. She'd had friends, and they were some of the most interesting people she'd ever met. More interesting that Candy Cane at any rate.

Akira also allowed herself to wonder what would have happened if she had asked Kyomi what on Earth she was getting so frustrated for. After all, Akira was only the distraction.

Akira had grown from a little orphaned thief under the guidance of her brother to become, to put it simply, a small, blue-haired, red-goggles-wearing demon. It was a fact she was remarkably proud of. Personally, she wouldn't have classified herself in those terms, but that was what the teachers and many of the other students called her. Eventually, she grew to like the title.

She and Matt were partners in crime. At first, it was he who thought up the ingenious plans to wreak merciless pranks on the entire population of Whammy's house, he who took the main roles, and Akira who stayed in support. But, as she grew more confident, grew more mischievous, and far more creative, it was she who was the master planner. Matt was perfectly happy to let her take the lead role, and even encouraged it. It was highly doubtful that, without the other, either of them would have become as notorious as they became. They were a bad influence on each other, and took great delight in that fact.

Akira and Mello, however, were distinct enemies. The entire community in Whammy's house quickly learned that when they heard the shout, "RYUK!", usually with some kind of explicit insult preceding or proceeding the name, and a bout of evil-sounding laughter paired with Akira's feet as she ran away from Mello, that the two had been antagonising each other to the extent that it would come to outright blows if one didn't run fast enough. It grew to be a war, with Mello taking delight in antagonising Akira too, hiding her goggles, making sure the kitchen would have no apples when she wanted them, which was always, and teasing her whenever he could. Akira retaliated by taking every opportunity to steal Mello's chocolate. Sometimes Matt would get involved in this, usually on Akira's side, but mostly he stayed out of it.

Life rapidly became interesting for Akira, or, as she was known as, Ryuk. Even school became interesting, after the stupid letters finally did what she wanted them to. The numbers would always dance for her, going where she wanted them too, and soon she was able to read and write as well as any of them. Within a year, she had more or less caught up with everyone else,. She took an avid interest in mythology, history, stories both real and made up, of death. It became a macabre obsession with her, one which she slowly grew to reflect with her clothes, which grew darker and more punk-like. She both influenced and was influenced by Mello, who began dressing darker too.

And Akira never took off her earring, the heart dangling from her ear.

Akira and Matt ventured together into alcohol and cigarettes, sometimes with Mello. Their first taste of wine resulted into the two boys throwing up and Akira smugly being able to keep it down, though she concealed the way that she had taken only half as much as the other two.

"_Uh… You know, Akira, you probably shouldn't be doing that… Isn't it bad for you_?"

Smoking was an even greater adventure. She, Matt and Mello had gone behind the toilets and huddled nervously around a lighter and single cigarette, Akira had been lighting it before accidentally setting her hair on fire with the lighter. She always maintained that Mello had been distracting her. Aside that, Akira quickly found herself addicted. A few times she made a half-hearted attempt to quit, but on the whole she found that she truly didn't care that she would probably die sooner because of them.

"_I'd feel a lot happier about this if you hadn't set your hair on fire the first time you tried it_."

But Akira never heard the voice which spoke to her with less and less regularity as she grew older. And she spoke less to Ryuk, or rather the image of Ryuk that she held in her head. Akira became more and more involved in the growing world of new possibilities that awaited her in Whammy's house, and Ryuk began fading. Soon she found herself unable to remember the fine details of his face. Soon it reached the point where Akira would have moments of panic in which she couldn't remember what her brother looked like. But sometimes she did. She treasured those moments.

But she never heard his voice.

"_Akira, I don't think I can stay for long_."

Akira's mind expanded exponentially, growing bigger as it gained more knowledge, learned new ways of thinking. Soon, she rivalled Matt. He was fine with this. Then she surpassed Matt and rivalled Mello, who was considerably more antagonised. It was yet another contributor to their antagonistic relationship. And then Akira, one day, received her mark back in maths, and it was ninety-three percent. Mello's was eighty-nine. Near's was ninety. She had surpassed them both.

"_I'm proud of you, Akira. I have to leave soon, and then I won't be able to come back. But, for now, I'm proud_."

Of course, it hadn't stayed like that. Sometimes Akira scored lower than the both of them. But others, she did the opposite. Those were the days she strived for. People began regarding her as a possible successor for the legacy of 'L'.

"_I can't come like this any more, Akira_."

She didn't want the title, but it plumped her ego to have it as a possibility.

"_This is the last time I'll be able to see you, Akira_."

And so, thanks to Watari's intervention years previous, Akira's life was completely turned around.

"_Goodbye, Akira_."

But Akira could never shake the feeling that, if offered Ryuk and her old life back in exchange for the Ryuk-less life she lived then, it would be, at the very least, an extraordinarily hard decision.

Light frowned. Ryuk had been flitting through the crowd for the last few minutes, a disturbing expression on his face. It was disturbing because it was strangely happy, more so than usual. But this was a happiness which had an edge of wickedness.

Light, absent-mindedly, slid a hand into his pocket without really noticing the gesture until his fingers brushed an edge of paper. Frowning, he withdrew a folded note and opened it. It read, "Meet me on the tennis court. Love, Kyomi."

"What?" he muttered.

Ryuk drifted beside him eagerly, saying, "come and watch, Light," in a strangely eager voice. Light noticed, as he looked around, a slight drifting motion of the crowd, that people were walking to the courtyard. Many of them were males. As he watched, more people joined them, just because everyone else was walking in the same way. He followed them to the tennis court. In the middle of it was Kyomi, surrounded by a solid crowd of male students, all of them asking her questions.

"You said you wanted to talk to me…"

"You asked me if you wanted to go out after school…"

"You said you had a piece of homework of mine…"

The confusion seemed to be born from the fact that many male students in the school had received notes supposedly from Kyomi, all saying different things, but all asked them to meet her in the tennis court. Light glanced around at the crowd, until his eye was caught by Akira and Ryuk standing together near the edge. Akira was smiling. As he watched, suspicion growing, she nodded once at Ryuk. The Shinigami took flight, flying towards a frustrated Kyomi, surrounded not only by male students, but now by a lage quantity of the out-of-class students whom the teachers had been attempted to draw back into their classes for the last half hour, without any success.

But the students didn't see Ryuk, nor did they see what he did next. Instead, all they saw was the was that Kyomi's clothes seemed to fly off her suddenly and without warning, revealing her now-famous candy-cane underwear and matching bra.

The other students began to laugh. Light looked over to see Akira smiling bigger than ever.

Akira hadn't known that L had been keeping a metaphorical eye on her due to her consistently high scores. One day, he decided to bring himself to her attention. Akira was surfing the net when the screen went blank. Puzzled, she wondered just what was happening before a gothic L appeared on her screen.

Akira's breath caught in her throat. She knew what she was looking at. Everyone knew what the thing that was now on her computer meant. And Akira knew that nobody would be stupid enough to try and fake it.

A blank notepad page came up, replacing the gothic L. Akira fought down her excitement as, before her eyes appeared the words, "hello, Ryuk."

Akira grinned, jumped up, did a small happy dance around the room, one which Ryuk would have been proud of, resumed her composure and typed back, "hello, L."

"I wanted to congratulate you on your success in school."

Congratulation from L? This called for another happy dance! After Akira succumbed to this necessity, she got back on her computer and typed, "thank you. But surely you didn't contact me to say that alone?"

"You are quite right."

"I know."

"I have contacted you in order to remind you that one of Whammy house's main functions is finding homes for talented students. Normally this is in Whammy's house itself, but sometimes we are lucky enough to find a pair of parents suitable for a child."

Akira paused, typed back, "I know that. But what relevance does it have to me?"

"What would you say if I said that I have found you a family?"

Akira froze. For the first time in God-knows how long, her mind was completely, utterly blank. Eventually, cautiously, she typed, "a family?"

"Yes. Of course, you will only go with them if you find one another suitable."

"So I get to meet them first?"

"Correct. You will meet them next week."

Akira smiled. She couldn't help it. A family? Of course, maybe it wouldn't turn out that way… And, of course, she would miss Matt (definitely not Mello, though) if she did end up going. Even so… She typed, "I'll think about it." She paused, thought. "Thanks again."

"Your welcome." The notepad vanished.

Akira sat back with a sigh, wondering just what to think of what had just happened. Before she could think upon it further, the notepad came back on the screen, their previous conversation now gone. "One more thing."

"Yes?" she typed.

"Although your energy is admirable, perhaps next times you should make sure that it isn't displayed in front of an easily accessible webcam."

Then the screen went blank. Which was good, because what to say to that Akira had absolutely no idea.

The next week she went to meet her potential parents. It went as a kind of group outing, with many different girls from different orphanages being met by many different parents. Akira didn't know which pair had been selected as a possibility for her until after the field trip, in which she and the other girls were taken to various places, including a museum. Akira quite liked the museum, and took great pleasure in explaining some of the more macabre histories of various objects to other girls. It was only later that she found out her potential father was a history nut, and by showing a similar interest, she had enamoured herself to him. The mother was of a similar feeling after seeing how lively a mind and body Akira had. They had other meetings, the first few more group ones, but later on these became rarer, and it became just the three of them.

Which was how Akira managed to gain two new parents.

The day she had to leave Whammy's house came too soon. Of course, she was now completely in love with the two people who wanted to claim her as their own, and wanted very much to go with them, but she was sad too, as she maintained no illusions that she would be able to keep contact with Matt. The constrictions at Whammy's house would simply not allow it.

She would probably never talk to him again. Oh, they might be playing the same internet game one day, and wonder if the person they played against, the one which so rivalled them, were their childhood friend, but they would never know. And that made Akira incredibly, incredibly sad.

Strangely, she found the fact that she would also never see Mello again devastating. She would even miss Near.

The day she was to leave, she visited Near first. She knocked, entered his room, and told him, "you're probably going to be L now. You'll be good at it. Not as much as I would be," she bragged, being unable to resist. "But still good."

"I know," replied Near from behind the tower of scrabble pieces he was building up. Seeing the thing made Akira sad. It was a long tower of single scrabble pieces stacked one upon another, so fragile, so easily knocked over. It felt like her composure, stretched long and thin over tears. But, damn it, she would keep it, and that tower would keep standing. "Don't let anyone knock that thing over," she advised Near. "Even if they run at it, tackle them or something."

Near looked at her directly, one of the few times in memory. For a moment, they shared the closest look they ever had, one of vague understanding. Near nodded. The gesture took the weight from Akira's heart. She left.

Mello was next. Akira had a special surprise for him. She stole all of his chocolate, something which made him yell for a good ten minutes, silly things like, "it's a good thing you're finally leaving! I'll be able to eat as much chocolate as I like!" before giving up. Akira sneaked into the kitchen, melted the chocolate, added milk, cooling it just enough, and took it to where Mello stalked outside, trying to find her, having giving up on his chocolate, and probably try to beat her up. It struck Akira, suddenly, that though they had run at one another many a times, it had only been when the other could run away. There hadn't been a single moment they'd truly wanted to hurt each other.

"Hey, Mello!" she shouted. Mello looked at her. She ran up to him and gave him his chocolate back. It was true Akira style that it had been delivered in the form of a water balloon filled with the stuff thrown directly at Mello face. Laughing exuberantly, Akira hugged Mello as she spun him around, the force of her momentum throwing her into him. Both ended up being covered in melted chocolate, Akira looked at Mello, smiled and said, "I won't miss you at all."

"And I'll be glad you're gone," Mello growled.

They both pretended not to notice that they stood, hugging each other.

Akira had to think only for a moment about how she would end this meeting. She stood on her toes and licked Mello's cheek. She pulled a face. "Don't know why you like that stuff." She then walked off, leaving Mello covered in chocolate. But that was okay, because she was covered in it too.

Mello shook his head and sat down on the bench. He stayed there until Akira had gone, and until the chocolate had congealed slightly. Shortly after that he moved into Akira's room, a gesture he said was meant to show how happy he was she was gone. Matt never really believed him.

And, finally, Akira went to Matt. She hugged him, and he hugged her back. It held none of the denial between Akira and Mello. The two of them were friends, the best of friends, and the hug said they both knew it. Akira had meant to get Matt a parting present, and had been unable to think of anything better than the packet of cigarettes she had been saving for herself. She tried to give this to Matt but he stared at it for a moment, began howling in laughter and pulled out an identical packet he said he'd been saving for himself but had recently decided to give to Akira as a parting present. They cheerfully exchanged their intended gifts.

Then Akira had to leave.

Watari himself came to collect her from Matt's room. Akira hadn't seen the old man since she had come, but felt as if she knew him like an old friend, or like a favourite grand-uncle. He gently told her, "your bags are in the car."

Akira nodded, stood, stepped towards the door. It suddenly struck her how crappy a parting memory it would be that she just leave, leaving nothing with Matt but the sight of her vanishing back. And the cigarettes, of course, but that didn't count. No, she had something better in mind.

Akira turned, took off her goggles, blinked and felt naked without them. Still blinking, she handed them to Matt. He stared at her for a long moment. "Ryuk?" He asked uncertainly.

"Take them, stupid, before I change my mind," she laughed. Laughter was good. It meant she wasn't crying.

Slowly, Matt did. He cradled them to his chest for a moment before laughing. He'd discovered the trick not to crying too. "Typical of you to make a dramatic exit."

And, after that, there was nothing to do but make the said exit. So, without any further ado, except for a single wink of one golden eye, she did. She walked out of Whammy's house and into the waiting limo outside. She never knew how Near, considered touching the scrabble tower in one particular spot, sending them all falling to the floor. But that would have been illogical so he didn't. She never knew how Mello stayed until the chocolate was almost dry on his clothes and skin. She never knew how Matt couldn't wear the goggles at first, and nor did she know that, once he began wearing them, he never took them off.

All Akira knew for a little while after leaving Whammy's house were the tears in her eyes. Sniffing, she said to Watari, who sat beside her in the limo, "it's the sun. It's bright."

Watari tactfully didn't mention that the limo's windows were tinted dark. Instead he said, "of course. I'll mention it to your new parents, your eyes, so they buy you some sunglasses."

"Good," nodded Akira, wiping her eyes. She looked up at Watari. "I haven't seen you for a long time."

"I'm sorry for that."

"Better be," grinned Akira. "You missed some killer pranks."

"I heard about them, though," Watari remarked dryly, a smile taking the bite from his words. Akira grinned. She was glad he'd taken some notice. Though, when she thought about it, she never doubted that he had.

She was taken to her parent's new home. They welcomed her there, and she felt the love that had already blossomed between them. Inexplicably, looking back at Watari as, having had a brief cup of tea and chat with Akira's new parents, he walked out the door of Akira's new home, she knew there was yet another person she would probably never be seeing again. She ran after him, said, "hey."

He turned, a little surprised.

"Didn't think you could leave without letting me say goodbye, did you?" she grinned wryly.

"Yet again, I'm sorry for that," Watari laughed a little as he said this, his old-man's voice sounding like dry, rustling paper. "Good bye, Ryuk."

"That's not who I am now," she said, shaking her head. "I use my other name now. I don't need the secret one. Now, I'm Akira."

"Then, goodbye, Akira," Watari corrected himself.

"Goodbye, Watari. Say hi to L for me. And tell him that his logo makes me think he's an emo zebra." She had spent quite a while trying to think up a way to insult the detective. After all, she insulted everyone else, it wouldn't be nice if she left him out. She would hate for all of that to go to waste.

"I will convey the message," Watari managed to say with a straight face.

"And," Akira said one last thing before Watari left for ever. She looked straight at him and said, "thankyou."

Looking at her, Watari was reminded of the tiny, scared girl he had first seen throwing up in a rainy, desolate street in what felt like eons ago. Sometimes, Watari thought he should do something other than what he did, perhaps something more along the line of solving crimes, something more helpful than taking in children. Then somebody like Akira happened, and he knew that, despite everything, he wouldn't change careers for the world. "You're very welcome."

And so ended Akira's internship at Whammy's house.

**Author's Note- **

**First and foremost, I'm so sorry for the ridiculously long gap between chapters. I've decided that, from now on, it will be one chapter of fanfic a week, and that way you'll know I'll get around to it **_**eventually**_**. Also, you have Yami Yugi to thank, not only for helping me getting the gears working on this again, but also prompting the decision to work on Fanfic again. **

**Thankyou to everyone who waited this long and doesn't hate me for making them do it. For those of you that do, I hope you forgive me.**

**Peace and Love,**

**-XOX, Pangie**

**PS- not sure if I've mentioned this, but I'm actually really anti-drugs, anti-smoking. I'm a little less anti-alcohol, but it's enough to make me uncomfortable to feel that I'm advocating drinking it. Just so you know, I'm not advocating either smoking or alcohol. **


End file.
